A Streetcar Named Desire Perception Essay

Perception plays an integral role in the fabric of human existence, simply because it affects how we view ourselves and also others view us. Blanche Dubois, Stanley Kowalski, Harold Mitch, and Stella Kowalski all learned this through their continuous evolution throughout “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, however by focusing on Blanche's relations and also her past we are able to see the role that that perception plays in her life. When Blanche says,“A woman's charm is fifty percent illusion” this becomes increasingly significant because it is a demonstration of her self-perception about the role of a proper, woman in society. With that being said Blanche does not only believe this general perception, rather she embraces it so
She would later get run out of her home in Laurel after she became the disgrace of the town, town slut, and she loses her job after she attempts to have intimate relationships with her students. These two events leave her homeless and without a job, so in order to survive she decides to call on her younger sister, Stella, who is living in New Orleans with a war veteran. She believes that if she was to go and live with Stella, both Stella and Stanley would be happy to provide for her as she lives out the rest of her fantasies and possible finds herself a new man. She succeeds in finding a new man, Mitch, however, he later calls her a dirty slut that is not clean enough to bring into the house with his mother. Basically, Blanche got caught in her web of lies after she began attacking Stanley`s authority and out of spite he tipped of Mitch about Blanche`s true self and the Mitch dumps Blanche. This triggers an emotional breakdown, in which Blanches false hopes begin to come crashing down around her and in the end, Stanley decide to exert his dominance over her, which causes for Blanche to completely fall apart at the seams. Blanche is so emotionally distraught about what had happened to her that she gets sent away to a mental asylum so that she would finally be able to get the help she needed or at least live out her illusions away from everyone