Blanche’s Reality
Steven Lingerfelt
3/22/23
English 102
Professor Brady
Blanche’s
Reality
In the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee
Williams, many motifs and symbolism’s are used in order to describe what a
character is feeling without directly stating it. These symbols, such as
Blanche’s paper lamp or the actual streetcar called Desire are later expanded
upon as the story continues to describe the inner workings of her mind. Williams
also uses the motif of Illusion vs. Reality, which Blanche struggles with from
the very first chapter. Using a combination of symbols and motifs to describe
Blanche tells the reader that she suffers greatly from the life she lived and
the illusion of a life she continues to live. Ultimately it is the
unwillingness to go along with her lies that pushed her to the final solution
of institutionalizing her.
As previously mentioned, the paper lamp and the streetcar
named Desire are both symbols used to describe Blanche. The paper lamp is a
stark white color against the interior of Stella and Stanleys home, it is put
up by Blanche shortly after she arrives. This lamp is mentioned one final time
before Blanche is taken away by the nurses, by Stanley who asks “unless it’s
the paper lantern you want to take with you. You want the lantern?”(Stanley Act
11) as if she’s a child having a temper tantrum if she would like it back. This
lamp and its white color represent Blanches upper echelon way of thinking as
well as her perceived purity. The color white is extensively used to represent
this idea of purity in Blanche.
The
streetcar named Desire that Blanche rides into town is also a major symbol of
Blanches intents. It represents the physical and emotional journey that Blanche
has been on but also her intents in this new town. Blanches own desires are the
reason that she is in the situation she is in. Polka music is also used by
Williams as a symbol for Blanche’s mental breakdown throughout the story. Polka
music comes from the country of Poland which is Stanley’s nationality, giving
it a direct connection to him. The music however is not used solely for
Blanche’s interactions with Stanley, it is instead used for anytime that
Blanche is undergoing stress. As the story progresses however and Stanley
eventually rapes Blanche this music is used one last time to show her total
mental breakdown and also foreshadow the further trauma to come.
Illusion
vs. Reality is the main motif of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Blanche struggles
throughout the story telling lies and omitting the truth of her situation. Its
only after Blanche is abused and pushed to her breaking point that she even
begins to open up about her trauma, but of course, she omits the whole truth
and only uses these experiences to further disillusion those around her. When
Blanche is finally telling the truth of Stanley’s rape, no one believes her due
to her inability to tell the truth previously. The lies however were not meant
for them it was meant for Blanche herself as a way of escaping her life.
Blanche needed the people around her to go along with or fall for her lies but
instead she met the one person who refused to play along, Stanley. Stanley
actively goes out of his way to inform others that he is onto her lies, like in
scene two when he tells Stella “Open your eyes to this stuff! You think she got
them out of a teacher pay?” (Stanley Scene 2) after he began rummaging through
Blanche’s travel trunk.
Blanche lived her lie so well she was able to convince
herself that the previous misfortunes of her life were just the result of bad
luck, not her incessant need for attention from men. This concept of living a
lie so well that you cannot distinguish it from reality is best described in
Jean Baudrillard’s book “Simulacra and Simulation”. Jean’s book was released in
1981, at the height of the cold war when propaganda and lying governments ran
rampant throughout the globe unchecked. Jean felt the need to write this book
in order to help teach the masses about the connection of symbolism, reality,
and illusion in the shaping of how we perceive the real world. “A Streetcar
Named Desire” is a perfect example of what Jean writes about, he says “it is
dangerous to unmask images, since they dissimulate the fact that there is
nothing behind them.”(Simulacra and Simulation). This quote exemplifies the
idea that Blanche was not only living a lie but was nothing without the lies
she told.
In conclusion, had Blanche been able to tell the truth of
her situation and not hide from who she is Stella may have been able to help
her. Because of the lies that she told, when the time came for her to tell the
truth no one could discern what was real or not anymore. Blanche struggled
following the death of her first husband, but one has to wonder if she had
always been like this. Blanche seemingly had genuine problems with confronting
her past and by living the lies she did Blanche exacerbated the stresses in her
life. This combined with her poor coping mechanisms tell a story of genuine
mental illness combined with her relative intelligence. If Blanche had been
able to better separate fiction from reality in her own mind she would have
been able to manipulate those around her for as long as she needed. But because
Blanche was caught time and time again in lies no one could believe her.
Cited Works
Baudrillard, Jean, and translated
by Sheila Faria Glaser. Simulacra and Simulation.
Williams, Tennessee. A
Streetcar Named Desire.