A Streetcar Named Desire- Blanche Flashcards
“She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice”-page3
“White” connotes purity and being gentle. Blanche appears to be fragile and pure. Her white clothes suggest a sense of innocence. The fact she is wearing this at the beginning suggests she will be “roughed up” in some way.
“Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light”-page3
If exposed to “strong light” then flaws will become visible.
“he’s what we need to mix our blood with now”-page25
Blanche is commenting on Stanley’s lower class and his animalistic character. She is suggesting that to survive the upper class will need to mix with the working class and that they will need to adopt their more robust and resilient traits.
“I can’t stand a naked light-bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action”
Blanche strongly dislikes strong light, she is concerned about being seen in a harsh light incase it reveals her true age.
“I don’t want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic!”
Now we see that Blanche’s fear of the strong light is about more than the age showing on her face. She’s not only hiding her appearances from the world, but refusing to look at the world in a harsh light herself.
“I guess it is just that I have – old-fashioned ideals! [She rolls her eyes, knowing he cannot see her face.]”
Blanche’s relationship with Mitch is founded on her lies and intentionally distorted perceptions. Regardless of Stanley’s actions, the Blanche-Mitch couple is doomed from the start.
“Never inside, I didn’t lie in my heart”
What Blanche means is that she believed her own lies, too – she was as taken in as Mitch with the persona she exuded.
“You know I haven’t put on one ounce in ten years, Stella? I weigh what I weighed the summer you left Belle Reve. The summer Dad died and you left us”
For Blanche, looking good is all about maintaining her youth and the illusion that nothing has changed.
“It isn’t enough to be soft. You’ve got to be soft and attractive. And I – I’m fading now! I don’t know how much longer I can turn the trick.”
Blanche’s “softness” may have been an asset in her youth, but it’s certainly a liability now. It means that she isn’t a strong enough person to deal with men like Stanley.
“She pours a half tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down.”
Blanche has an obsession with drinking, she uses it to drown her sorrows and forget about everything bad in her life, links bad to the concealing reality with fantasy.
“The Grim Reaper had put his tent up at our doorstep”
Blanche mentions this referring to all the death at Belle Reve over the last few years.
