Blogpost 3 topic 3

  An underlying theme within “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams is insanity. Although the definition may stand as vague or obscure, author makes it set out to define more than just the psychological states of the characters, especially Blanche Dubois. The most common version to define the word insanity may be borrowed from our good old friend Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, which is “a severely disordered state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder”. In Blanche’s case, insanity is only seen within her alternate reality which she has created for herself. Although it may seem extreme, her reasoning as towards her way of being is justified through the means and conditions of trauma.
   Blanche comes into her younger sister, Stella Kowalski’s, life in New Orleans as soon as she loses yet another valuable memento in her life, in this case their ancestral home. Her state of mind is surrounded by the mere desires of wealth and the higher social class, which she strongly portrays herself as a part of even when she gets taken under Stella and her boyfriend, Stanley Kowalski’s, financial wing. She immediately alters their living conditions and customizes it to her preference; for example, the bright bulb in their apartment covered by a paper lantern which dims the brightness. She sways around the apartment in luxurious and promiscuous clothing, along with her higher vocabulary that constantly undermines everyone, especially Stanley. Stanley is a mere representation of what Blanche’s contradictions would look like if coincided with one another. She preys on young men, seeking fulfillment in giving herself to them yet shames others for not pertaining to the image of wealth that she idolizes. When any rumor about her is mentioned, she remains in denial and protects her name as well as any act that may seem out of the ordinary to others, such as her long baths, dim lighting, and alcoholic habits.
   Her reasoning behind her behavior can be justified as a psychological defense mechanism. A dark past of Blanche that may act as an origin for her behavior is the death of her ex-husband. She recognizes that her emotional connection with him was feeble and in response to this, she transforms into a distinct person because she sees herself as a failure, as the reason for why he committed suicide. Her ex-husband’s betrayal with another man helped Blanche believe that she had failed him as a woman, explaining why she devotes herself in the new form full of promiscuity directed towards young men. In connection to her past’s most significant figure, she creates this world of illusions for herself and expects all of those around her to make sense of it. Blanche has a fantasy that her relationship with Mitch can work out when in reality she just wants a safe haven for life.  She admits to her sister: “I want to be near you, got to be with somebody, I can’t be alone!” (Williams 144).  These words show that she is yet again willing to get control of her life and create new relationships.  However, Mitch was a pure illusion she tried to encapsulate for her own good, her only true feeling that involved him was the desire to have a partner permanently. She jumped to the idea of marriage and saw it as a ticket out of her misery from her solitude. Her illusions and planned future vanish in a matter of seconds when the representation of her opposite ideals, Stanley, take her by her will and dismantles her self-reclaimed image that she held with pride. This is when Blanche, along with her illusional world full of pride, solitude, remorse, and promiscuity becomes distorted and turns her insanity into complete emptiness.