Blog Post #3 Topic 4

Insanity is not universally equal. In the United States, we not only see mentally ill people as insane but we often judge cultures and deem them as insane. Many cultures believe in sacrifices and cannibalism but if the United States were to practice these acts then it would not be accepted or seen as normal human behavior. To many, it might never be understood because the cultures are not the same. A more modern and current example of a cultural norm that is not widely accepted, is the torture and consumption of dogs. To some, this is simply culture, but to others, it is insanity and makes no sense. Those who believe in aliens may have their reasons for upholding this belief, but some people find it ridiculous and insane to believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life forms. The dictionary definition of insanity focuses on what insanity means in the United States but is very broad in the sense that it doesn’t consider other cultures around the world. There are so many examples of what we can deem insane and what in other cultures is not.

            In “A Street Car Named Desire”, Blanche does not seem to be insane. Psychiatry hospitals in the United States are filled with the mentally ill that are dangerous to society. Blanche only made up stories because she was insecure and wanted to be liked or better than who she really was. She wanted to be the perfect Southern Bell but instead, she was seen as a liar to those who knew her. Her lies piled up and by the time she could have potentially been telling the truth, her lies made her seem irrational, a definition of insane. When Blanche begins to fall too far into her lies, that is when we see a turn in her behavior. She starts to hear things and when at first you see Blanche as just a liar, she begins to go too far. Blanche went so long lying and believing her lies that she has created a life that isn’t there. If her life had been normal and none of her traumatic events occurred she could have potentially avoided the psych ward.

            Blanche was left with a lot of responsibility and was a lonely person. In her era, it was shameful to have gone through things that she had gone through. Her dad died, her husband left her (and was suspected to be gay), and her own sister’s partner (and father of Stella’s child) rapes her. Blanche was not born destined to be crazy, her environmental effects and her desperation to be perfect, created the opposite of her ideal life. Blanche’s behavior and her reactions to her experiences are seen as insane by those around her and no one really tried to understand why she was the way she was but instead, sent her away. Blanche was not insane but rational and with psycho analyzing her actions, she was just a damaged person who needed someone there for her. She had deep-rooted, untreated problems that made her react in a way that would be deemed insane especially in the time when mental illness or the thought that situations could damage people was not exactly understood just how different cultures are not always understood.