The play "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams, focuses on a very vain woman named Blanche. Throughout the play it is evident that she is not the well put together, independent woman everyone perceives her as. Blanche states, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" (Williams 178). This meaning that she will take a lending hand when needed or not, she is not self sufficient by any means. When things with Belle Reve went sour she moved in with Stella and her husband Stanley who is basically the stranger lending his hand. When she became friendly with Mitch she depended on him to fulfill her needs to make her happy and feel loved. Blanche also was a big dependent on whiskey to keep herself sane. The play ends with her life in the hands of a doctor who is also stranger, and goes without a fight because she will always rely on the kindness of strangers.
In the beginning of the play, Blanche is introduced as a well kept, innocent woman who shows up at her sister's apartment with her nose in the air because she feels she is superior to everyone around. Once Blanche starts to get settled in she looks around and asks Stella how she could live like this. She was not brought up this way, living in filth in a rundown apartment. When, in reality Blanche has a past that proves she is not better than anyone at all and she too has faults. "I don't want realism. I want magic. I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell the truth. I tell what ought to be the truth." (Williams 145) This is a perfect example of how fake Blanche really is. She shows up at Stella's acting like life is perfect when she really is hoping Stella will board her since Blanche has lost Belle Reve. Blanche has been untruthful the entire time because she wanted everyone to see her as she "ought" to be and how she "ought" to act. The real person Blanche is would be a stuck up, dependent, pedophile who uses whiskey as a cheap way to solve her problems.
