Post 3 : After reading the whole play- Romina Vargas

The most important ideas/themes of the play are:

Love: Stanley begs Stella come back after he had hit her. [The low- tone clarinet moans. The door upstairs opens again. Stella slips down the rickety stairs in her robe. Her eyes are glistening with tears and her hair loose about her throat and shoulders. They stare at each other. Then they came together with low, animal moans. He falls to his knees on the steps and presses his face to her belly, curving a little with maternity. Her eyes go blind with tenderness as she catches his head and raises him level with her. He snatches the screen door open and lifts her off her feet and bears her into the dark flat.] (Page 74)

 Sex and violence: Stanley: [Stanley springs toward Blanche, overturning the table. She cries out and strikes at him with her bottle but his catches her wrist.] Tiger- tiger! Drop the bottle top! Drop it! We´ve had this date with each other from the beginning! [She moans. The bottle top falls. She sinks to her knees. He picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed.] (Page 176)

Death: Blanche: we dance de 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! I ran out – all did! All ran and gathered about the terrible thing at the edge of the lake! I couldn’t get near for the crowding. Then somebody caught my arm. ¨ Don’t go any closer! Come back! You don’t want to see! ¨ See? See what? Then I heard voices say –Allan! Allan! The Grey boy! He’d stuck the revolver into his mouth, and fired—so that the back of his head had been–blown away! (Page 126)

 Desire: I think that desire is another important theme in the play. The major desire from Blanche was to be a bit younger again and get married. She is a sexual woman who wants and needs a man in her life, but when she can’t, she creates them (eg: Shep). All this is the result of having a miserable past.

 I think that the title of the play represents the journey of Blanche towards her new destination which is her sister's home. And Desire has to do with her life and youth that she always is pretending.

While I was reading the play, it made me think about how a person can be affected by loneliness. I think that is very important to our lives to have a family or a friend to get through the difficulties in our lives. In the case of Blanche, she felt so alone and so sorry for her unfortunate past that she got to the point to create her own world in order to hide it, becoming mad.

 If I have the chance to ask the writer a question, I would ask him why Stella decided to sent to her sister to a mental institution instead of trying to help her before or at least try to solve the problem in another way, and not directly enclosing her sister in a mental institution. Because in my opinion, to send her to an institution would be the last option, and I don’t think that Blanche was crazy enough to be enclosed.