How Does Blanche Dubois Use Alcohol In A Streetcar Named Desire

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In Streetcar Named Desire, drinking is a way to escape from the lonely void created by her young husband’s death for Blanche Dubois. Drinking is often a way for people to escape from their current circumstances and forget about everything. In Streetcar Named Desire, it also relates to Blanche’s illusional world in the way that she wants to escape her past by being delusional and settling in as if it were reality. Through the motif of drinking, Williams reveals that escaping reality and living in a fantasy world will leave a person blind to the things around them. For Blanche alcohol is used as a means of escape from her past life and as a distraction from the real world. Blanche hates the way her past turned out and wants nothing more …show more content…

Habitual drinking isn’t ideal for a woman’s reputation in the 1940’s, so the habit is often hidden or disguised. In scene 5, Stella hands Blanche a Coke and tells her not to talk morbidly. Blanche asks for a shot of alcohol in the Coke, and Stella pours some whiskey into a glass, insisting that she likes waiting on her sister. “ Well honey, a shot never does any harm! Let me! You mustn’t n’ wait on me!” ( 92) Blanche hysterically promises to leave before Stanley kicks her out. Stella tries to calm her down as she pours the Coke, but accidentally spills some on Blanche’s “pretty white” skirt. Blanche shows uncomfortable strong emotion from her sister and then screams out as her drink spills. Stella sees for the first time that her sister is perhaps not quite mentally stable as her emotions ride for out of sync with the content of the exchange. Blanche drinks to escape the present and to blur the harsh edges of reality. When she thinks Stella has stained her skirt, she overreacts as though Stella has ruined her whole dream of herself, and she is overly relieved when the stain blots away. If the stain had stayed, Blanche would have seen herself as tarnished forever. The Coke spilling and foaming out of the bottle can be seen as a metaphor for Blanche- it stains her emotions spilling over, how herself is out of control, …show more content…

A state of drunken stupor enables her to take a flight of imagination. When Blanche is own her own we discover a great deal about her personality. We see that Blanche continually lies about her drinking in order to portray herself as a true “lady”. When nobody is watching, Blanche consumes a reasonable amount of alcohol, leading her to destructive behavior as she deludes herself. In scene ten we see that Blanche has been drinking fairly steadily since Mitch left. “ How about taking a swim, a moonlight swim at the old rock-quarry? If anyone’s sober enough to drive a car! Ha-ha! Best way in the world to stop your head buzzing! (151) It is clear that Blanche, with the help of alcohol, has begun her retreat into a fantasy world. She dresses herself in a white satin gown and her rhinestone tiara. She stares at herself in the mirror and flirts with imagined suitors. Examining herself more closely, she catches her breath and slams down the mirror. It shatters. Blanche has been drinking to escape reality. She dresses herself in costume jewelry and gowns, but the only audience for her fantasy version of herself is herself. When she looks at herself more closely, though, even she can see through the illusion, and so she smashes the mirror, indicating the failure of her illusory world and also her nervous

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