Blanche is a character who tries to be someone she’s not. Appearance and reputation seems to be all she cares about, which seems to be more than ironic when we discover why she ran away from home. When she gets to Stella and Stanley’s home, she puts on airs for everyone. And one thing she’s self conscious of is her age and appearance; when she tells Stella “But don’t you look at me, Stella, no, no, no, not till later, not till I’ve bathed and rested! And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciles (sp) glare” (1119)! at the beginning it’s apparent she’s slightly vain. She’s constantly blotting her face with makeup and taking baths to refresh her appearance. It seemed most of the story unraveled when Blanche was in the tub, actually.
There’s also a point near the end where Mitch confronts her about never seeing her in decent light or during the daytime. Blanche feels she needs to hide herself from everyone due to her age and being older and unmarried. An example of how she hides herself is the use of the lamp shade she puts over the bulb in the house. Near the end when she’s being taken away, Stanley asks if she wants her paper lantern and tears it off. The stage note says “She cries out as if the lantern was herself” (1175). The lampshade represents the cover she puts over herself; the fancy clothes and makeup, keeping herself in dimmed settings, talking about refined things and acting high class, they are all ways she hides who she is, which is apparently crazy.
Her reputation is something else she constantly worries about. She isn’t upfront with Stella about why she left her job, or even Belle Reve for that matter, and averts Stanley’s accusations when it comes to staying at the Flamingo. She kisses the young man who comes to receive donation for the paper but refused to do anything with Mitch because “I guess it is just I have -- old fashioned ideals” (1152)! Blanche later tells Stanley that Mitch came over and apologized and brought her flowers after she received a call from a rich man who asked her to take a cruise with him. Of course, Stanley calls malarkey and she immediately clams up.
Her reputation is something else she constantly worries about. She isn’t upfront with Stella about why she left her job, or even Belle Reve for that matter, and averts Stanley’s accusations when it comes to staying at the Flamingo. She kisses the young man who comes to receive donation for the paper but refused to do anything with Mitch because “I guess it is just I have -- old fashioned ideals” (1152)! Blanche later tells Stanley that Mitch came over and apologized and brought her flowers after she received a call from a rich man who asked her to take a cruise with him. Of course, Stanley calls malarkey and she immediately clams up.
It is also revealed that Blanche was locked out from her teaching job for hooking up with a seventeen year old male student. This can be related to her acts of kissing the young man who comes for collections. She thinks that a young man will make her feel young, too. I think her mental insanity has something to do with the first boy she fell in love with; I think she felt happy then, like she didn’t have to try as hard as she does now, and she tries to usher in the sense of youth. All in all, Blanche is an untrustworthy character. She may play the sympathetic sister, but she’s unstable from the get, and her obsession with her vanity is the proof.
I really liked your post. I think Blanche is an interesting character to analyze. I never thought about how most of the story unraveled Blanche was in the tub. I think maybe if Blanche focused less on her appearance and social status, and focused on more important things like her personality, maybe she would have had an easier time finding a man.
ReplyDeleteI like how you point out how Blanche is constantly trying to hide how she is crazy because just reading the story I never thought of that. I was just thinking of how she was trying to hide her facial features, but now I can see that she is also hiding how crazy she really is.
ReplyDeleteI also liked how you compared the different circumstances between when Blanche was hooking up with her students and when she kissed the boy who came to get collections for the paper.
I like the idea that the paper lantern covering the light is an analogy for Blanche herself, and how she uses so many trappings--lighting, clothing, jewels, imaginative stories--to create a facade and hide her true (and problematic!) character!
ReplyDelete