Illusion and Reality 2

Question 1

What are the 5 topic sentences for the topic of Illusion and reality?

Answer 1

Illusion and reality:

Introduction:

• realism of setting
• contrasted with character of Blanche and her incongruence with this

1. ) deception and dishonesty as a refuge from the ‘broken world’ of reality
2. ) Stanley’s desire to uncover Blanche’s illusion
3. ) the dichotomy of illusion and reality explored through contrasting imagery of Stanley and Blanche
4. ) light truth metaphor ( light exposing the decay of Blanche’s beauty)
5. ) Mental instability

Question 2

What is topic sentence 1 and what are the quotes for it?

Answer 2

1.) dishonesty and deception of the truth as a refuge from the ‘broken world’ of reality.

-‘ tosses it down’… ‘replaces the bottle’ ‘Is there any liquor about the place. Oh I spy! I spy’
- ‘I haven’t been very well lately’
Context: Williams himself battled an addiction to alcohol and barbiturates; fell into a depression following lost love and the loss of his sister.

• ’ Magic! Yes Magic… I tell what ought to be the truth’
• ’ I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley’

Context: relentlessness of the setting drives the characters to extremes- dysfunctional relationships -
2.) Williams writes aspects of his personal experience into his characters, Blanche is institutionalised- mirrors his own sister.

Question 3

What are the outlining points I want to make?

Answer 3

Dichotomy of illusion and reality explored through :

1. ) the realistic setting of the quarter: immersive. Coarse, down-to-earth
   - vernacular speech and authentic costumes
   - Context: divergence of attitudes- Williams captures the liberalism of New Orleans- spent time there himself.
2. ) juxtaposed with the reference to ‘Elysium’ = imaginistic quality
3. ) Blanche’s incongruence with the setting= ‘fluffy white’ celestial, or a relic of the past

Question 4

What is the topic sentence for point 3 and what are the points I want to make for it?

Answer 4

3.) the dichotomy of illusion and reality explored through contrasting imagery of Stanley and Blanche:

• ‘vivid green bulb’, ‘poker night’ ‘peak of his physical manhood’ ‘ brilliant silk bowling shirt’
• ‘coarse direct and powerful as primary colours’
• ‘paper moon’ (here there is even an explicit reference to the concealment of reality) , ‘paper lantern’, ‘paper boy’

-‘shimmer and glow-put a- paper lantern over the light’
evokes the feeling of the fleeting moment of the ‘instance in the wind’ of the epigraph

Context: the dichotomy between illusion and reality, more widely can be said to reinforce the divergence of the South
- Blanche’s desire to remain in an illusion and her ethereal, not quite tangible quality demonstrates her inability to adapt to changing values.

Question 5

What is topic sentence 2 and what are the points I want to make for it?

Answer 5

2. ) Stanley’s desire to live in embrace of reality and uncover Blanche’s illusions and deceptions:
   - ‘ If you weren’t my wife’s sister I’d get ideas about you’
   - ‘ jerks out a handful of dresses… fistful of costume jewellery… hurls the furs to the daybed’
   - Context: the battle between Blanche and Stanley can be said to represent the divergence of the south- jutting materialism and urbanisation overtook the dying world of the plantation owning gentility.-

• ‘not a goddam thing but imagination’
  Context: ——> use of vernacular speech= Stanley’s lack of social decorum and propriety

Question 6

What is the topic sentence for point 4 and what are the quotations I want to use for it?

Answer 6

topic 4: extended metaphor light-reality dialectic:

Light represents truth:

the unforgiving reality of the light will expose the deterioration of Blanche’s beauty, and more figurative the loss of the beauty of Southern graciousness and the world to which Blanche, the Southern Belle, and Belle Reve adhere.-

• Literary Context: as with Poe and Hawthorne, Williams poetically depicts the almost romantic appeal of the loss and decay of an entire aspect of culture.
• ‘put a paper lantern over the bulb’
• ‘turn that off! turn that off! I won’t be looked at in that merciless glare!
• ‘locomotive glares as it thunders past, Blanche claps her hands to her ears’
• Mitch: ‘turns the light on to look at her. She cries out and covers her face’
• ‘tears the paper lantern off the bulb’

Question 7

What is the topic sentence for topic 5 and what are the quotations I want to use for it?

Answer 7

5. ) Blanche’s mental deterioration, leading to her complete loss of touch with reality:
   - ‘ murmurs as if to a group of spectral admirers… moonlight swim’

-in the final scene: ‘the varsouviana faintly plays… she’s got it mixed in her head with Shep Huntleigh’
Context: Williams’ sister suffered from schizophrenia before she underwent a lobotomy= personal examination and exploration of inner turmoil his sister may have experienced- helps him to cope with grief?

• ‘wild noises’, ‘jungle sounds’ ‘lurid and grotesque reflections’
• surrealism in a realistic setting, immerses us in the subjective perspective of the character of Blanche, engages in discourse surrounding mental health ‘you should never make fun of insanity, it’s worse than death’