Wednesday, December 7, 2011

What does light symbolize in A Streetcar Named Desire?

Light
represents reality, the very thing Blanche Dubois dreads most. She says to Mitch right up front,
"I don't want . I want magic!" Blanche is a romantic who detests ugliness and
brutality. She also detests how the beautiful society world she grew up in is fast vanishing,
and she detests how she is no longer a beautiful, young southern belle. When Mitch tosses aside
the paper lanterns and forces Blanche into the light, he is seeing her for the first time,
stripped of her illusions about who she is.

To disguise her aging, Blanche
puts paper lanterns on the bare light bulbs in her room and she avoids being seen in direct
light. She wants to retain the illusion that she is a southern belle and not a sad, desperate
woman determined to forget she's no longer sixteen and virginal with the hopes of a dashing
gentleman as a husband.

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