Blanche Dubois Quotes

1.) Mitch takes off the lamp shade cover to see Blanche under full light (scene nine, page 144). "MITCH: What it means is I’ve never had a real good look at you, Blanche. Let’s turn the light on here.

BLANCHE: [fearfully]: Light? Which light? What for?

MITCH: This one with the paper thing on it. [He tears the paper lantern off the light bulb. She utters a frightened gasp.]

BLANCHE: What did you do that for?

MITCH: So I can look at you good and plain!” (Williams 144). Motif Throughout the play, Blanche avoids light; she prefers to close the curtains and dim the lights. However, in scene nine, when Mitch finally learns of Blanche’s true life, he tears off the lamp shade cover, putting Blanche under full light. The idea of reality versus illusion is prevalent here because, before, the darkness allowed Blanche to be deceitful and create this illusion that she was young, innocent, and

– Operator! Western Union!

STELLA: That’s a dial phone, honey.

BLANCHE: I can’t dial, I’m too-“(Williams 77). Symbol The dial phone represents the New South, and because Blanche is from the Old South, she is unfamiliar with a dial phone and cannot use it. This represents the destruction of the Old South as Blanche cannot function properly in her new environment because the South has advanced far from Blanche’s Old South.

“ BLANCHE [with faintly hysterical humor]: They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields!” (Williams 6). Conceit Tennessee Williams subtly includes the motif “Desire as it Leads to Death/Destruction” in the names of the streetcars and Stella’s neighborhood. The streetcar named Desire transfers Blanche to a streetcar named Cemeteries which then takes her to Elysian Fields. Cemeteries and Elysian Fields are both associated with death, so the streetcar named Desire led Blanche to death. “ STELLA: You lay your hands on me and