No matter one’s age or state, all people have dreams, or illusions. A balance between fantasy and reality can lead to a healthy lifestyle, but too much of one can be chaotic. This is demonstrated in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams by several characters. Blanche Dubois has lost the family home in Laurel Mississippi, and comes to live with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley Kowalski. Blanche likes to present herself as an elegant and classy lady, but those are just her exterior traits, on the inside she is struggling to say the least. Because of her tough life, Blanche lives her most of her days in fantasy. Stanley is the complete opposite. He is a hardworking man who wants to hear nothing but the truth. He is a
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She loses the family estate in Laurel, Mississippi so she comes to stay with Stella and Stanley. Blanche’s entire image is fake. She dresses in all white and puts on a lot of makeup to hide from who she really is. In a conversation with Stanley, Blanche says “A woman’s charm is 50 percent illusion” (41). Blanche uses her fabricated image to make other people think she is high class and therefore she will be treated differently. She wants to be seen as a high class woman, and the only way for her to achieve that is to be fake. Blanche also tries to make her reality apart of her actual life, especially when she is around Stanley’s friend and her crush Mitch. Blanche and Mitch are on date when Mitch realizes something is dubious. Blanche is avoiding showing Mitch her entire face, and the room is very dark. Mitch asks why she is doing this, saying it is not real, to which Blanche replies, “I don’t want realism, I want magic” (145). Blanche is older than how she acts, and she thinks that Mitch will no longer like her if he knew this. She does not want a real relationship with ups and downs, all she wants is a perfect world with only positive things. The world she lives in is magical, but it is like she is only …show more content…
She is constantly having to choose over Stanley and Blanche. By doing this, Stella is choosing if she wants a completely surreal life, or one that is all too real. Stella has to decide who she would rather be with, and her toughest choice is believing that Stanley raped Blanche. Stella says “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” (165). Stella is not the right person to be constantly making decisions because in her relationship with Stanley, she will have to side with him or else she will be all alone in the city of New Orleans. She convinces herself that Blanche is lying, and desperately tries to push the thought to the back of her mind so she can live with herself. She wants to believe Stanley because that would put her in an ideal situation, but deep down she knows that Blanche is telling the truth. She enjoys her life with Stanley if Blanche is not in it, so she just tries to forget all about what she said. Stella also uses her physical relationship with Stanley to dismiss how Stanley acts around Blanche. “There are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark–that sort of make everything else seem–unimportant” (81). She uses sex to defend Stanley because she has nowhere else to go if her relationship with him does not work out. Her physical attraction toward Stanley blinds her from how horrible he can actually be. She has an illusion of him where he is a perfect man, and
She loses the family estate in Laurel, Mississippi so she comes to stay with Stella and Stanley. Blanche’s entire image is fake. She dresses in all white and puts on a lot of makeup to hide from who she really is. In a conversation with Stanley, Blanche says “A woman’s charm is 50 percent illusion” (41). Blanche uses her fabricated image to make other people think she is high class and therefore she will be treated differently. She wants to be seen as a high class woman, and the only way for her to achieve that is to be fake. Blanche also tries to make her reality apart of her actual life, especially when she is around Stanley’s friend and her crush Mitch. Blanche and Mitch are on date when Mitch realizes something is dubious. Blanche is avoiding showing Mitch her entire face, and the room is very dark. Mitch asks why she is doing this, saying it is not real, to which Blanche replies, “I don’t want realism, I want magic” (145). Blanche is older than how she acts, and she thinks that Mitch will no longer like her if he knew this. She does not want a real relationship with ups and downs, all she wants is a perfect world with only positive things. The world she lives in is magical, but it is like she is only …show more content…
She is constantly having to choose over Stanley and Blanche. By doing this, Stella is choosing if she wants a completely surreal life, or one that is all too real. Stella has to decide who she would rather be with, and her toughest choice is believing that Stanley raped Blanche. Stella says “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” (165). Stella is not the right person to be constantly making decisions because in her relationship with Stanley, she will have to side with him or else she will be all alone in the city of New Orleans. She convinces herself that Blanche is lying, and desperately tries to push the thought to the back of her mind so she can live with herself. She wants to believe Stanley because that would put her in an ideal situation, but deep down she knows that Blanche is telling the truth. She enjoys her life with Stanley if Blanche is not in it, so she just tries to forget all about what she said. Stella also uses her physical relationship with Stanley to dismiss how Stanley acts around Blanche. “There are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark–that sort of make everything else seem–unimportant” (81). She uses sex to defend Stanley because she has nowhere else to go if her relationship with him does not work out. Her physical attraction toward Stanley blinds her from how horrible he can actually be. She has an illusion of him where he is a perfect man, and