There is a lot of content about teenagers and adolescent trauma. Watch a movie like Rebel Without a Cause or a TV show like 13 Reasons Why and put it in conversation with Until They Bring the Streetcars Back. How is Cal Gant like Clay Jensen? How does Cal compare to Jim Stark? What do Gretchen and the Lisbon sisters have in common?

Aside from helping Gretchen, Cal maintains an active social life. What does Cal do with his friends? How does Cal’s social life tie into the novel’s themes?

The story has many narrative threads. Identify the different plots and explain how they come together. How does West juxtapose and relate the crisscrossing stories?