Streetcar Named Desire Test Essay

Terron Graham
Jimmy Cao
A Streetcar Named Desire
Group Test

1. Blanche’s character is built upon deception and illusion. Following her husband’s death, she plunges into a lifestyle built on validating herself through promiscuity, and proving to herself that she is still as attractive as she once was. The conflict, though, is that, as with all things, she is growing older, and she cannot stop. Thus, she beguiles others in order to cope with the passing of time, and to protect from the truth of reality.
Blanche, lost in her mess of illusion, has come to protect her growing age through any means necessary, especially when around Mitch. She goes on to say that "I like it dark. The dark is comforting to me." (Scene 9, pg. 116). The reason for this is that if he can’t see her in proper light, he won’t be able to surmise that her “age” is not actually her age, and neither will the rest of the world. Not only does she dim her surroundings, but she also dresses in lavish, extravagant clothing befitting of a women 10 years her junior. They only assist in the youthful facade of youth she’s put up. While these pieces are not authentic, they are enough for her counterfeit notions of beauty to be satiated.
Another of her deceptions is Shep Huntleigh. Shep is Blanche’s perfect man. She makes it seem as though she has admirers, hiding away in her phone book, making her seem desired, in turn making her more desirable. That she isn’t off with them, living a jet-setting lifestyle also makes her chaste and honest. She attempts to play this up around Mitch, by telling him “I'm not accustomed to having more than one drink. Two is the limit,” during poker night, when later in the play, she knows exactly where in the house Stanley’s bottle is. Blanche admits on page 91 that “Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell the truth. I tell what ought to be truth”. She says what she feel should be true, what is true in her world, showing...