English Final Assessment

Present

Mr. Daniel Montefusco

By

Kankamol Bongkot-olarn (Fen) 6161083

Section 1206

Prompt D

In A Streetcar Named Desire

Analyse to what extent Blanche was free to shape her own identity?
 In the play, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, by Tennessee Williams, the author uses a lot of

techniques to illustrate through large numbers of characters’ identity and how contrasting each

cast plays a role in the novel in disparate aspects. One main character that keeps the story on

going is Blanche DuBois. Blanche, a fictional character that performs a big part in the story. She

was dressed in white and appears in the first scene which symbolises purity and innocence who

will always be at the mercy of the brutal and realistic world.

With one sister named Stella, who represents two diametrically opposed worlds with

herself, she has to grow up in her own way. Her former suitor, Shep Huntleigh whom she met

again before her arrival in New Orleans while vacationing in Miami and was known in the story

to be a millionaire, then started telling everyone how good he was and how much money he had

compared to her sister’s husband, Stanley. Even though they were not together anymore, she still

hopes that he would provide her financial support. On her visit to her sister after her marriage,

she was aghast of her sister’s living with only a two-bedroom apartment. She then convinced

Stella to take a step back from what she is facing at the moment by telling her to get divorced

and set off a better life with Shep’s money but Stella refuses heavily and said that she didn’t

want her life to get any better than what she is having at the moment. Blanche, who used to be

innocent and beautiful, didn’t admire the idea of her sister’s down to earth decisions. She tried to

find as many ways and reasons to make her sister believe in her opinion and that was the

beginning of Blanche’s destroyed life.

The old delicate, sensitive, refined, and beautiful life of Blanche was destroyed by the

Kowalski world. After some reality shows, she was broken up by lots of mens making her

confused and started trying out what her real type was. She had slept with numerous numbers of

men and that made her known by society in a negative way. People started calling her prostitute
making a friend of Stanley who dated Blanche, Mitch, opinion towards Blanche change in a

gloomy way. He decided to take a break from her and was angry after knowing the truth about

Blanche’s history. However, the anger was not only towards Blanche but also the society that

was halting him from having affections towards such a poor woman only because of her

distasteful history. That demolished her life more than ever. She tried to escape reality but chose

to do it in the wrong way by using alcohol. She has lost her own identity since then.

However, Stanley, as her brother in law, was annoyed and bothered by her approach. He

used his final attempt by destroying the remainder of her sexual and mental esteem by raping her

and then committing her to a mental asylum. Everything she gathered as a pure and innocent

person who will always be at the mercy of the brutal and realistic world was all broken down.

She began to have serious mental issues which no one ever bothered including her own sister,

Stella.

Once her illusions of an admirable world were destroyed, she was at the same time

destroyed too. All her true identity was erased leaving her alone in the enormous world.

Nonetheless, in the end she allowed herself to be led away by a doctor while ignoring everyone

aside.