Tennessee William's play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche is well-known as the delusional aging woman at the beginning but as the story goes on, it is evident that she is slowly changing into a more real person. At first she is displayed as the high-class sister that does not tolerate dirty common people when she herself does not seem to go off any better. She had just lost the family property and yet she still lies to herself by trying to play off as a young woman with class. She is blinded by her pride which leads her to lie about her age and the situations she has gone through. Blanche is glued to her pride such that all she cares about is her appearance and what people say about her. In advantage, she knows Stella would believe whatever she says and that is why she always nags Stella to tell her what people say about her and lies about her life.
The one moment we finally see Blanche start to change is when she opens up to Mitch. She seems to really care about Mitch which is evident when she talks nervously about him to Stella. Blanche even doubted that she may not be able to actually get Mitch to fall in love with her. Mitch is a very sincere gentleman and that may be the reason why Blanche decides to tell him her past. We see a real side to Blanche where she is willing to open up, put her pride aside, and tell Mitch her shame. Also, she has been too occupied in thinking about her relationship with Mitch to even fully fight with Stanley anymore. Blanche is starting to become more vulnerable and unable to hide that. Even more, now that most of the characters know about Blanche's mistake in Flamingo, Blanche is even more vulnerable at this point. She now has to fear rejection from Mitch.
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I agree with your idea that our perception of Blanche is ever changing throughout the story. My first impression of her is of an uptight woman with a high opinion of herself who enjoys looking down her nose at those who are of a lower class. However, shortly into the play we learn more about her past and how that has shaped her as the vulnerable person we see her as when the rest of the characters lear about her past.
ReplyDeleteFrom your blog response, you did a good job at identifying Blanch’s personality. I agree that as the second part of our reading (Scene 5-9), the story reveals more about Blanch’s background and her real life. However, in the second part of your response, “She seems to really care about Mitch which is evident when she talks nervously about him to Stella.” I believe Blanch is nervous not because she care about Mitch, I instead think the nervousness Blanch feels is because she is defending her lie about the true intention with Mitch. I believe that she does not want Mitch, and only use him as her protector.
ReplyDeleteOn the first part of the play, Blanche may look like she is an uptight woman until we read scenes 5-9 which reveals her past of how she lost her job as a teacher and her house. That's when she reveals that she is very destitute. Good job on this post.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Blanches personality is always changing in the play and that the second part of the story reveals Blanche's past history. I do believe that Blanche is vulnerable but it is not because of society, it is because she herself wants to uphold what society believes a woman should be.
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