Symbolism- A Streetcar Named Desire

               As an author tries to foreshadow what will occur in the story, they use symbolism and motifs to help the reader figure it out. Tennessee Williams uses this technique to show how the characters may be feeling and what they really represent. As seen through the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche, a thirty year old woman, has a difficult time facing reality. As the years go by, her only desire is to feel desirable by other men. After losing her husband due to him shooting himself, she feels that she is lonely in the world and the only way to get out of that stage of depression is by finding someone else.  Obstacles get in her way but Williams portrays certain reappearing objects throughout the play to signify her past, desire, loss of innocence and false purity. Blanche feels her beauty fading away and that the only way to prevent that from happening is by hiding the way she looks like by not appearing in direct light. Her desire for her wanting to live an elegant and glorious life comes from the beginning of the play when a streetcar named Desire, drops her off at her sister Stella’s house. Blanche throughout the play is always wearing a white which represents her false purity and innocence. Going through rough stages in her life, Blanche goes into a panic which is shown by the Polka music she hears in the background.  Williams casually slips in clues that allow us to get the feel of who Blanche really is without telling us. A Streetcar Named Desire, simply shows how Blanche, a trouble aged women, goes from losing everything she owns, to trying to build her life back together again.

            Blanche’s life has spiraled downward and into a depression where she seems to get trapped in.  To cover it up, she pretends to be fine and denies everything.  The truth is that her homosexual husband Allan, committed suicide because of society not accepting him the way he was born, with homosexual tensions. By society not accepting the way people were in the 1940’s, Blanche feels this need to look beautiful and the only way to do that was by making herself appear younger.  She feels that her fading beauty is becoming more noticeable and by staying away from the light, it is going to somewhat be able to hide that.  Meanwhile in reality, she will get older as the years go by and there is no way in stopping that. 
            Williams tries to portray Blanche as an insecure lady who after losing her husband, feels the need to hide her true age. By doing this, it hides her years going by and hides her from her past.  From the day Blanche arrived at Stella’s house, she asked Stella how she looks. Stella replied “You look fine.”  Blanche rejected to accept that answer because she wanted to hear more from it. “God love you for a liar! Daylight never exposed so total a ruin! (Blanche 1170). Even her own sister tells her she looks alright, Blanche refuses to believe so. She constantly looks for ways people could compliment her on the way she looks, yet alone, to get Mitch, the man she crushes on, to compliment her. 

            To feel more secure about herself and her age, Blanche finds ways she could accommodate her surroundings. “I bought this adorable little colored paper lantern at a Chinese shop on Bourbon.  Put it over the light bulb! Will you, please? (Blanche 1189). Blanche uses paper lanterns to dim the light in any room she is in. By doing this she feels much better and safer in the dark. The darkness protects her from her “reality” of being alone and older. It helps her hide from the past and prevent her from realizing that time is moving on, she won’t get any younger, and that her husband will never come back. Ever since Allan left her, she could only see her world dark with all the light missing from it. Her husband represented the love of her life and after he left her world, all Blanche could notice is that hiding herself from the light may help her cope and hide just a little longer from reality. 
            Blanche stays away from the light as much as possible.  After repeatedly wanting to dim the lights or make the room darker, Mitch beings to wonder.  Blanche’s excuse is that she likes the dark because it comforts her. Her only real reason is that she wants to hide her wrinkles and her appearance before others judge her with their reactions. “What it means is I’ve never had a real good look at you, Blanche. Let’s turn the light on here.” (Mitch 1223). Blanche frantically gets worried of what Mitch’s real opinions about her appearance are. Mitch then tears the paper lantern and turns the light on. Blanche being terrified of his thoughts before he even said anything yells, “I don’t want realism. I want magic!” (Blanche 1223). Magic, the ability to transform anything into any imaginative thing, enables Blanche to create this illusion of appearing the way things should be rather than what they really are. 
            All Blanche believes in is the magic and the fantasy she created in her head.  She wanted the life that she imagined in her head, to become real. She pictures the world with herself living an elegant life with a man by her side. Her life came crumbling down once the person she thought loved her left her life. Once Blanche felt unwanted and unloved, she goes to Stella because she knew family wouldn’t let her down. After everything else fails, family and her imagination are always right there with her. 
            Music plays a significant role throughout the play.  Williams uses music playing within Blanche’s head to describe the way she’s feeling inside.  Polka music is repeatedly being played in her mind to exemplify her loss of innocence. It also plays when she begins to panic or become nervous.  Blue Piano music is heard throughout the suspenseful scenes. “The loss – the loss…” (Blanche 1173).  “Belle Reve? Lost, is it? No!” (Stella 1173). At first, Blanche is nervous of how Stella would handle the terrible news.  The Blue Piano music grew louder when Blanche touched her handkerchief to her forehead waiting for Stella’s response. 
            The music not only reveals Blanche as a state of nervous, but represents her loss of innocence.  The Blue Piano music started to increase when she was left alone in a room with Stanley.  “You think I’ll interfere with you? Ha-ha! Come to think of it –maybe you wouldn’t be bad to – interfere with ….” (Stanley 1230). The drums beat louder indicating he will hurt her in some way, therefore by raping Blanche. Not only does music indicate Blanche’s loss of innocence but how she loses her grip on reality. When Blanche tells Mitch about her homosexual husband, Allan, she starts to remember the past. The faint Polka music in the background shows how Blanche is feeling nervous about telling Mitch about her past. “We danced the “Varsouviana! Suddenly in the middle of the dance the boy I had married broke away from me and ran out of the casino. A few moments later –a shot! (Blanche 1211). The Polka music reminds her that the reason Allan committed suicide was mostly because of what she said that night. This leaves Blanche thinking about it and hearing the music from time to time.
            Blanche’s white suit worn throughout the play symbolizes her false purity and innocence. She wears a white skirt that is shortly stained with Coke. Stella pouring Blanche a drink, accidently pours too much into the glass and the foam overflows. Blanche nervous about her date later that night with Mitch, gets even more nervous that now her skirt may be stained.  Williams foreshadows that she will eventually reveal her false innocence and admit the truth to Mitch by her white skirt, signifying purity, begin stained. Also after Blanche tells Mitch the truth about her having “many intimacies with strangers”, he replies, “You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother.” This kills Blanche inside and causes her to yell into a state of hysteria. She continues to drink her problems away especially after the man she likes, now wants nothing to do with her. By the ending of the play, Blanche puts on a soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown on.  The crumpled and wrinkled gown shows how her false innocence is further being revealed as the play progresses. “That cool yellow silk –the bouclé” (Blanche 1232). Blanche asks Stella to pass her the colored silk, a turquoise pin, and artificial violets after taking a bath.  By her asking for colorful articles of clothing rather than her usual white suit, Williams demonstrates that Blanche is no longer hiding her purity after telling Mitch she has been with other men. She is starting to grasp a grip on her own reality and starting to realize that she can no longer fool people about her false statements. 
               Symbolism and motifs are written throughout A Streetcar Named Desire as a way to indicate internal conflicts within the characters. Blanche being the main character with internal and external conflicts tries to cope with the death of her husband by creating a fantasy world she can feel comfortable in. Symbols such as the Polka music and Blanche’s white suit and motifs like light and magic, allows Williams to establish the characters’ true intentions and emotions hidden within them. Blanche lives day by day going through difficulties facing reality and what her life has become.