Stella Kowalski (née DuBois) is one of the main characters in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire.

[1][2] The play begins when Blanche comes to visit Stella and Stanley in New Orleans after having lost their family home, Belle Reve, and her job as a teacher in Laurel, Mississippi.

We gather that Stella was a Southern belle who left her home town to find work after her family fell on hard times.

In New Orleans, she met her soon-to-be husband Stanley Kowalski, who just has returned from World War II, complete with decorations.

When Stanley discovers that Blanche has lost the family estate and been forced out of her home town for promiscuity, he gleefully tells Stella, who initially refuses to believe him.