A Streetcar Named Desire

In Tennesse Williams' play, "A Streetcar Named Desire" the readers are




introduced to a character named Blanche DuBois. In the plot, Blanche is




Stella's younger sister who has come to visit Stella and her husband




Stanley in New Orleans. After their first meeting Stanley develops a




strong dislike for Blanche and everything associated with her. Among the




things Stanley dislikes about Blanche are her "spoiled-girl" manners and




her indirect and quizzical way of conversing. Stanley also believes that




Blanche has conned him and his wife out of the family mansion. In his




opinion, she is a good-for-nothing "leech" that has attached itself to




his household, and is just living off him. Blanche's lifelong habit of




avoiding unpleasant realities leads to her breakdown as seen in her




irrational response to death, her dependency, and her inability to




defend herself from Stanley's attacks.




Blanche’s situation with her husband is the key to her later behavior.




She married rather early at the age of sixteen to whom a boy she




believed was a perfect gentleman. He was sensitive, understanding, and




civilized much like herself coming from an aristocratic background. She




was truly in love with Allen whom she considered perfect in every way.




Unfortunately for her he was a homosexual. As she caught him one




evening in their house with an older man, she said nothing, permitting




her disbelief to build up inside her. Sometime later that evening, while




the two of them were dancing, she told him what she had seen and how he




disgusted her. Immediately, he ran off the dance floor and shot himself,




with the gunshot forever staying in...