Negative Effects of Popular Media

Firstly, the reader may initially feel Blanche is completely responsible or at least somewhat to blame, for what becomes of

Blanche’s guilt, the principal force driving her downfall, stems from her involvement in the circumstances surrounding her husband Allan’s suicide. After finding her husband with

Blanche has a devastating and scarring past in which her tragic flaw originates from. The elements of love, sex, and death haunt her until she is unable to handle it any longer and loses what is left of her sanity and sparks her unstable mind. To expatiate, Blanche was once married to the love of her life, Allen Grey, until she found

While exploring Blanche’s character, it is necessary to find and analyze the roots of her mental instability and unpleasant behavior. I

Blanche’s desire for youth links with her desiring her past where she had money, a man, security and a good reputation, before it was sullied by desire. We learn of her youth and past being tainted by desire

Blanche heads to visit Stella and Stanley in an effort to start a new, and cleanse herself of the past; when in fact what she finds is much worse than the ghosts of her past. In the first scenes, Blanche is very unlikable and is portrayed as a jealous sister, who can’t be happy for anyone. It is hard to feel sympathetic to Blanche; yet easy to feel sympathetic for everyone but her, due to her treatment

Blanche has personally had a lot of loss already in her life, such as losing her husband, home estate, job, and even sense of dignity where she had lived. This dignity had been torn down by self-loathing and guilt from her husband’s death, and many rumors that were circulating about her. These rumors were a direct result of expectations and societies ideal image of how a woman should behave and look during this time. In “Overview: A Streetcar Named Desire,” Joyce Moss and George Wilson explain that as a southern woman who grew up in an area with aristocratic traditions, Blanche would have been “considered inferior to men,” but was also expected to be “virginal and morally superior to the male” (4). When gossip about her past caught up to her, she was treated unfairly because of her failure to meet these traditional standards. These standards came with many societal pressures that caused Blanche to create an image for herself; a façade to protect her from her past and judging eyes. She used this façade to maintain a sense of dignity, and it helped her to cope with the many losses from her

Blanche is a fading “Southern Belle” struggling to maintain her identity. She speaks in long sentences with intricate phrases and uses figurative language to maintain a perception of herself as a sophisticated woman. When talking to Stella, Blanche elaborately describes Stanley and unnecessarily compares him to a “survivor of the stone age” “bearing the raw meat from the kill in the jungle”(51) to deepen her accusations. Blanche becomes dramatic when detailing traumatizing incidents to build sympathy from her audience. In an attempt to build guilt for Stella, Blanche states that ‘I, I, I took the blows in my face and my body! All of those deaths! The long parade to the graveyard!”. She uses the pronoun “I” heavily and uses appealing words to dramatize her situation and hide the truth. Blanche uses extravagant and sophisticated

The play is presented chronologically, from Blanche’s arrival at her sister's apartment in New Orleans in May and ends with her departure a few months later in September. Her past is revealed only through flashbacks, which come as her own confession to Mitch and through what Stanley finds about her (O'Shea 12). The play is divided into three significant seasonal periods over which it takes place: the spring of Blanche’s arrival, the summer of her hope of a second chance, and the fall of her exposure, defeat, and removal to the mental institution

Ever since Blanches husband has died she has tried using other men to make her desires be fulfilled. When discovering Stanley she tries to get him to be interested in her. Stanley had Blanche tricked into thinking he actually loved her so one night he showed her. Unfortunately, Blanche is raped by Stanley. “I always did say that men are callous things with no feelings, but this does beat anything. Making pigs of ourselves...” (Williams 164). Stanley took advantage of her because he figured what would one more matter. Ever since her husband died she has been with many men so it came to a shock when Stanley did that to her. After being raped, Blanche is now unable to deal with herself even more than she was before. “William’s play by introducing symbolic characters, including Blanche’s young husband Allan Grey, and by using flashbacks. Virginia Johnson was Blanche; Lowell Smith was Stanley;...” (Kolin 162). With everything Blanche has gone through with her widowed husband, it would become more obvious to secure her life. Even though Blanche is feeling hopeless when it comes to men, she gave herself up too easily. Stanley came into Blanche’s life and had her wrapped around his finger. When Blanche began to trust him and open up that is when all bad broke loose. Stanley took advantage of Blanche and now left her feeling more hopeless than she was

The themes of desire, loneliness and fantasy vs. reality create such a unique and confusing character, that many people are able to relate to. Which is shown through her experiences of losing loved ones and losing her first true love. Blanche shows the effects of a tragedy and how one is able to materialise and enhance their true persona. Blanche represents a mentally damaged and troubled woman but is overshadowed by her need to obey the norms of society. Making Blanche a complex character who shapes the ideal contemporary southern woman that overshadows her past.

Afterward, she exit the restroom feeling like a new woman. In conclusion, you can see how Blanche’s traumatic past have cause her to create a false reality in which she can’t keep up

As someone who is fragile and very insecure Blanche doesn’t know how too coop after she found her husband in bed with another man. She moves in with her sister in New Orleans and tries too filling her emptiness with sex instead of dealing with her true emotions. “After the death of Allan-intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with." (Page 146) Blanche is a character that prefers too live in her own imagination, with no sense of what really is reality. As she continues too act upon her insecurities trying too shove down the feelings of loosing her husband, Blanche’s instability grows along with her misfortunes. Into the story Blanche forms a relationship with Mitch, who is easily influenced and does not seem

In her illusionary world, she believes she is still a teacher though in reality she was asked to leave the institution due to her affair with her seventeen year old student. She is willing to admit, in a moment of clarity, that she would turn to strangers to overcome her loneliness. In her attempt to cope with her crazy life she is willing to turn to Mitch with the hope of marriage to regain the reputation she has lost. She is not willing to accept that she is an old maid and an alcoholic. Though born in an upper class family, Blanche seems to have fallen in the eyes of society due to her actions and her pennilessness. Her sanity, self-image and self-esteem are shattered by Stanley and his animal behavior. With all avenues for a happy future slammed in her face, Blanche is sent off to the mental asylum. This intensifies her insecurity and totally pushes her over to her world of

Facing the slow, agonizing deaths of her family and the loneliness that ensues from her young husband’s departure takes an emotional toll on Blanche. She uses alcohol and sexual relations as a way to detach herself from facing the situation as it was. It allows her to forget the sadness and guilt. However, Blanche still comes off as a relatable, kindred