Blanche Dubois

Peoples 1 Tashana Peoples Professor Johnson English 201- 9E3 May 18, 2012 Final inquiry Paper A Streetcar Named Desire Draft Blanche Dubois is a character in Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire. She is a rather pregnant person in the play, as the plot is largely centered on her and Stanley Kowalski. Her character is challenging and controversial because she has a shocking past but portrays herself to be a classy and sophisticated woman. Blanche arrives at her sister Stellas apartment in New Orleans, Louisiana on a streetcar named Desire (symbol).The urban, slenderly grimy atmosphere is a shock to Blanche. Blanche then starts to look down on her sisters apartment as well as her husband Blanche No, now seriously, putting joking aside. Why didnt you tell me, why didnt you write me, h angiotensin-converting enzymey, why didnt you let me know? Stella Tell you what, Blanche? Blanche Why, that you had to extend in these conditions (Scene One) She acts as if shes better tha n everyone else and too good to be living like they are. Even after she insults her sisters living conditions, Stella thus far welcomes her sister with open arms.Blanche starts off in the very beginning of the play lying to Stella about her work situation Blanche I was so exhausted by all Id been through my- nerves broke. I was on the verge of- lunacy, almost So Mr. Graves- Mr. Graves is the high school superintendent- he suggested that I take a cast off of absence. (Scene One) Blanche tells Stella that her supervisor allowed her to take time off because of her nerves when in fact she has been fired for having an affair with an underage student. This is just one instance showing her interaction with the opposite gender.Later in the play readers find out that she has also been very promiscuous with numerous men when Stanley receives this information from a colleague. This along with many other things leads to her wanting to escape Laurel. Stanley doesnt like Blanche and he makes i t known that hes onto her lies. In Scene Ten he begins to tell her that she acts classy and has fancy items but not once does that fool him. He even buys her a ticket to go home and tells his wife that Blanche has to leave on Tuesday. Towards the ending of the play, Blanche claims that she received a wire from a man who invited her to go to the Caribbean with him.He is supposedly a wealthy man and she tries to show off by bragging to people about it. Both the wire and the invitation turn out to be another one of her hallucinations. Blanche has had a disturbed life, including a marriage that stop because her husband committed suicide after she discovers him having a homosexual affair. This leads her into a world where fantasies and illusions blend with reality. Everything she tells Stella and Stanley are lies and figments of her imagination. The play ends with her leaving not on a bus back to her hometown, but to a mental hospital with a doctor.