Analysis of a Streetcar Named Desire

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Kellia Wright Gina Gennari English 112 1078 28 February 2013 In Tennessee Williams play, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Blanche DuBois, one of the main characters, appears in the first scene dressed in white, which is a sign of purity and innocence. She seems to be very classy, intelligent, and cultured. Later, Stanley, Blanche’s brother-in-law reveals that Blanche is the total opposite of innocent and pure. She is very self-conscious, lonely, and tortured by her past. Blanche depends on male sexual admiration for her sense of self-esteem. In order to escape from her past, Blanche drinks heavily and is very promiscuous. She pretends that she has just come to visit her sister because she needs a vacation, when the truth is that she has come to start a new life after losing her ancestral mansion, her job, and her reputation in her hometown of Laurel. Blanche feels that she is justified in her actions because she feels the only way to have a new life is to pretend her past life never existed, but with the help of her evil, cruel, brother-in-law, Stanley, her past is eventually found out, and ruins the rest of her life. In the first scene of the play, she tells her sister to talk while she looks around for some liquor, even though she already knows where it is because she helped herself to some earlier while waiting for her sister to arrive. Her sister Stella notices how nervous she is, and how her hands are shaking. Blanche tries to cover up her problem saying “Now don’t get worried, your sister hasn’t turned into a drunkard, she’s just all shaken up and hot and tired and dirty” (Williams 1.27)! She doesn’t want her sister Stella to think she has turned into a drunk, even though she has. Blanch lost her husband when she was very young. He killed himself after finding out that Blanche knew he was gay. Blanche
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