"[H]ortages, seizures, instructions, letters, poems, telegrams, diaries, evaluations, songs and even moons (Kolin 1)." What does any of this have to do with each other? Paper and a tram named Désir. Philip C. Kolin highlights this metaphor in his article "'It's Only a Paper Moon: The Ontology of Paper'" in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. » Kolin discovered that Williams used the paper as a metaphor to describe Blanche's ideas and Stanley's flaws and desires. Kolin finds this to be a common thread in Williams' work but focuses primarily on the streetcar. Williams himself finds the paper an interesting creation: "In Williams' own words, the paper, when properly inscribed, may be sacred, but when subjected to corrupt or false imprints, it is profane." " (2). It is true that paper seems to play a very important role in this play. One of the first things Stanley does is to throw a "sample of red-stained butcher paper" (3) at Stella. After reading or viewing this piece, a bloodstained newspaper and Stanley definitely seem to intertwine. Kolin argues that Stanley uses paper. ...