Maurice's Journal #2: A Streetcar Named Desire

Common sense is one major tool that is implanted in the mind of human beings, and is used in our everyday lives. Now let me ask a question. If you were in danger, or can predict or sense it, you would avoid it right? I know I defiantly will. One person that probably wouldn’t is Stella. I’ve noticed that throughout the scenes of “A Streetcar Named Desire” Stella and Stanley’s relationship have been rocky, and filled with nothing but a ton of arguments. Blanche tries to guide her sister to safety and inform her that you can’t stay around this environment with your husband. In the text, Blanche is worried and concerned about the fact that her sister went back to bed with Stanley. And the thing that makes me mad and gets me worried for Stella is the fact that she makes excuses for him, and acts as if everything is okay. She needs to stop defending him and face reality. She even mentions that “When men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen.” (pg 63) This makes me think that Stella is just waiting for a spark to occur, or something to ignite, just so that she can use that as an excuse to finally leave. So god forbid one day Stanley plays poker again and drinks, and then beats on you Stella, are you then going to day that oh, “anything can happen?” This texts reminds me of how in the media today, men cheat, and/or abuse their wife’s, and the wife doesn’t leave because of an excuse such as , Oh, he was drunk, or it will never happen again, and the most famous, because I love him. If you ask me, it’s ridiculous.
One thing I love about this book is that it’s filled with drama, and loads of intense information. I believe one character in the book that keeps it entertaining, and keeps me wanting to read is Blanche. For example, I think she is the biggest contradictor ever. In the text, Blanche says “And I—I’m not putting out.” When she made that statement, it made me have respect for her since she’s not easy. But my perspective and respect for her changed after I read more into the book. For example, when the young man stops by the house to collect donations for the evening star/the newspaper, she didn’t have money to give him, but she did have something…. Blanche says to the young man, “Come here. I want to kiss you, just once softly and sweetly on your mouth.” (pg 84) what happened to “I’m not putting out?” you’re going to kiss a random stranger? Is she insecure or something? I also couldn’t believe that “she got kicked of her high school before the spring term ended” (pg 101) according to Stanley all because she was messing with a 17 year old. This shows a connection that she didn’t learn from her lesson, leading to her kissing the young man. I do have some sympathy for her because at the age of sixteen, she did lose her love Allan because he killed himself. And sometimes I really dislike Stanley as a character for the way he treats Blanche. For example, for her birthday that Stella was trying to celebrate with a cake and candles, Stanley gives her an envelope with a bus ticket to leave. At first, she tries to laugh it off, but then she dashes off to the bathroom. I felt really bad for Blanche, because she has been through a lot in her life time. And one thing that maybe part of symbolism that I notice is that Blanche is always going to the bathroom and singing some type of lyrics. I wonder what that represents.