Stanley carries his bowling jacket and a red-stained package from a butcher’s.
The use of props was a common element in plastic theater. Here, the red-stained package represents Stanley's masculinity. The noun "package" can of course be a sexual reference, and the color red is usually synonymous with lust, passion and even rage. The bowling jacket gives us a look into his activities and/or hobbies. Bowling is a characteristically masculine activity.
He heaves the package at her. She [Stella] cries out in protest but manages to catch it; then she laughes breathlessly.
Here we see a sort of juxtaposition between females and males. The verb "heave" is quite aggressive and represents Stanley's masculinity. This is contrasted with the verb "cries" and the adjective "breathlessly" as it portrays Stella [or rather femininity] as weak and fragile.
[Blanche] Nervously tamping cigarette.
In this part of the book, Blanche is talking about what happened at the school she used to teach at. The adverb "nervously" suggests that something horrible happened, and also suggests that she may be thinking of a lie to avoid telling the truth. The cigarette is another prop that is used. It can be interpreted in multiple ways. First of all, it suggests that Blanche has an addictive personality. Secondly, it shows us that she's an unhealthy person and looks towards harmful outlets to calm her down.
Stanley throws the screen door of the kitchen open and comes in. He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the center of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependency, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfying center are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humor, his love of good drink and food and games, his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer. He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.
Oh boy. A lot to analyze. The verb "throws" is clearly a representation of Stanley's masculinity as it shows violence. What follows is a physical description of him. The adverbs "strongly" and "compactly" perfectly describe him. "Strongly" suggests he's very physically capable, but "compactly" tells us he's rather small in stature, which is backed up by the fact that he's "about five feet eight or nine." The phrase "gaudy seed-bearer" is also a great descriptor. The adjective "gaudy" refers to a person who is flashy and likes to show off, but to the point that it's tasteless. The compound noun "seed-bearer" refers directly to his masculinity and represents him as an "alpha male" character. The last sentence of his description could also be a foreshadowing of what he does to Blanche as he likes to sexually classify women and then fantasize about them, yet he goes a step beyond that and goes ahead and rapes Blanche.
Blanche opens her eyes. The "blue piano" sounds louder.
Throughout the book, the "blue piano" music or the "polka" music are used to refer to Blanche's sanity. As she starts to become less and less mentally stable, the music gets louder and more violent.
Polka music sounds. In a minor key faint with distance.
In this part, Stanley has just asked Blanche about her previous marriage. The reason the polka music starts is because one of the key elements of her insanity is that it's tied to the events of a night when her former husband shot himself in the head. She discovered him cheating on her with another man. Later that night, at a ball, she expressed her disgust towards homosexuality and Allan (her husband) ran outside and killed himself. At the ball, Allan and Blanche were dancing to polka music, called the "Varsouviana."
The polka stops abruptly.
The music always stops after she hears the gunshot.
Blanche rises stiffly. Then, the polka resumes in a major key.
After the music has stopped, it's almost as if she takes a moment to process the event, and this makes her go even more insane, which is shown through the music resuming in major key.
The Varsouviana music steals in softly and continues playing. Stella rises abruptly and turns her back. Blanche tries to smile. Then she tries to laugh. Then she gives both up and springs from the table and runs into the next room. She clutches her throat and then runs into the bathroom. Coughing, gagging sounds are heard.
Just more examples of what I said above.
The "Varsouviana"! The polka tune they were playing when Allan - Wait! [A distant revolver shot is heard. Blanche seems relieved.] There now, the shot! It always stops after that. [The polka music dies out again.] Yes, now it's stopped.
And more.
Lurid reflections appear on the wall around Blanche. The shadows are of a grotesque and menacing form. She catches her breath, crosses to the phone and jiggles the hook. Stanley goes into the bathroom and closes the door.
The adjective "lurid" refers to something that is "unpleasantly bright in color, especially so as to create a harsh or unnatural effect." This could be a reference to Stanley being "gaudy" as that has the similar definition of "extravagantly bright or showy, typically so as to be tasteless." This could foreshadow what's about to happen as the lurid reflections represent Stanley. He is basically haunting Blanche at this point. However, the figures also symbolize Blanche's state of mind as she is blinded by insanity and is starting to perhaps hallucinate.
The barely audible "blue piano" begins to drum up louder. The sound of it turns into the roar of an approaching locomotive. Blanche crouches, pressing her fists to her ears until it has gone by.
The blue piano in this case symbolizes her rape. The "approaching locomotive" is Stanley. And her "pressing her fists to her ears until it has gone by" is basically her essentially detaching herself from reality and simply accepting the situation and ignoring it until it's over. This is later reinforced with the verb "sinks" to refer to her reaction as Stanley's about to rape her.
The "blue piano" goes softly. She turns confusedly and makes a faint gesture. The inhuman jungle voices rise up. He takes a step toward her, biting his tongue which protrudes between his lips.
The "inhuman jungle voices" here clearly represent her state of mind. She has completely lost it and has given up.
She moans. The bottle top falls. She sinks to her knees. He picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed. The hot trumpet and drums from the Four Deuces sound loudly.
The most important word here is the adjective "inert." It perfectly describes how Blanche feels. She's unable to fight back. She has given up and is completely dominated by Stanley.