The end completely surprised me. I never even suspected that Blanche had a mental problem, I actually thought she was telling me the truth. What surprised me even more was what Stanley did to her. Throughout the whole reading I thought he was scared of the change Blanche brought and didn’t want her around but then when the two are finally alone he take advantage of her. What’s even worse is that he discovers she is a liar and senile and he still does it.
I felt remorse and helplessness when Stella said that she couldn’t live with Stanley and believe Blanche’s story at the same time because I knew what really happened and I wanted to jump into the book and tell her the truth. I wish Tennessee Williams wrote a sequel because I cannot believe Stanley could go on living his life with this secret.
A Streetcar Named Desire reminded me of an old black and white movie named Arsenic and Old lace. In the movie two brothers cousin has a mental disorder and he thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt and parades around the house and builds the Panama Canal in his basement. The way he acts and the way Blanche acts are almost the same. They try to act fancy and eloquent, or like big shots and know it alls. Since both pieces were done around the same time period I can’t help but to wonder if this was a hot topic of the decade and how many homes it affected.
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I think that when Stella heard about what Stanley did to Blanche, she immediately believed her sister, but her mind went against it. there are many potential reasons as to why Stella would support Stanley despite knowing what he is capable of. Stella probably knew that the best way to secure the future of her new born baby is to support Stanley, because neither she is capable of supporting the child, and nor is the mentally disturbed sister.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think Stanley only wanted to take advantage of Blanche because of the changes she brought with her, but I have noticed that Stanley has very little respect for women since the beginning of the play. Women are portrayed as weak and servile to men in this play. When Stanley beat his wife in front of everyone, he probably knew that she would come back to him no matter what. Stanley took advantage of Blanche’s weakness just as he took advantage of Stella’s.
i feel that when Stella found out what happen to Blanche she wanted to believe her but didn't want to go against her husband stanly.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that there should definately be a sequel created, because i somehow feel that the story was incomplete. I wanted to know what happened after, would Stella live for the rest of life in doubt of Stanley? and would this suddenly make her crack and end up like her sister!!...who knows, but this reminds me of a movie The Other Sister.
ReplyDeleteI think that Blanche was really telling the truth, and Stanley took advantage of the situation.
Stanley is a PIG!!!!! He drove Blanche completly crazy throughout the entire novel and was the reason she ended up in a hospital. His past and what he did to Blanche I bet are even dirtier than the one he exposed. I only wish I could find out what his secret story was!!
ReplyDeleteThe book leaves a lot to the imagination, but I'm not entirely sure that Stanley took advantage of Blanche, I think she just showed her that he is stronger than her and that she can't win in this. What he did may have been cruel, but the truth has to come out at one point and Blanche doesn't even deny the stories in the end, she just changes the subject, or blames Stanley for being trying to make her life miserable, when in the end, she's the one who completely altered the life of the family. Besides, in the last scenes it's clear that most of the stuff she says is made up, because we know the truth for sure, yet she says different things to Stanley.
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