Pub 1

Asiah Smikle
English 102
Prof. Brady
Pub #2

When you hear the word illusion you think of a deceptive appearance or impression, a thing that is likely to be wrongly perceived or interpreted. In the Play A StreetCar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams we see this struggle of illusion vs reality with Blanche. She runs of to live with her sister Stella in seek of a false life, rather than coming to terms with what has happened in reality. In this day and age we see a lot of those same tendencies on social media outlets. Everyone wants to create a false image of who they desire to be, generally hiding the person they truly are.
In the last seen before Blanche is about to be taken away by the doctor Stella states “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” (Stella, 1232). Blanche told Stella that Stanley raped her but Stella refuses to believe it, although she knows that Blanche is telling the truth. In this scenario essentially Stella has two options; to believe Blanche and leave Stanley, or disregard Blanche and continue living with Stanley. Stella decided to send Blanche away so she can proceed with her normal life with Stanley. Suprisingly, Eunice, tells Stella “ Don’t ever believe it. Life has got to go on. No matter what happens, you’ve got to keep on going” (Eunice, pg133). She reassures Stella that she has made the right decision. In this point in the play we see a shift in Stella’s character, as she is becoming more like Blanche. One of the major issues that led to Blanche’s downfall was her reluctance to accept her reality over her illusion, which were created off lies. In this scene, Stella refuses to accept the reality of what went down between Stanley and Blanche and instead, forces herself to live in her own illusion in an attempt at getting back her life as it was before Blanche arrived.
As technology has progressed since the time period of the play living in an illusion has become so common. Social Media outlets such as snapchat and instagram essentially gives you the capability of portraying yourself as someone you are not. By the upload of a few pictures you can create the image that you live a certain lifestyle that in all reality you don’t live. Social media has become a toxic mirror, rather then living you life through your reality, you live your life trying to hold this image of being a false version of yourself. “Most people show the best parts of themselves and leave out anything that would leave a negative impression of them, something you can’t exactly do effectively in person”(Renshaw). People post picture in fancy clothes and expensive shoes to uphold the image of living in wealth, when in all reality, their income is probably the same as yours and mine.
Throughout the whole play we see how Blanche lives her life hiding her reality with lies she made up for herself and living her life as an illusion. Some of us may be able to relate to her in some way shape or form because we hide our true selves whenever we post something unauthentic on social media. Life is about living it to the fullest and the purest, and hiding who you really are as a person only takes away from everyone individuality. Think about this if everyone was hiding even a small part of who they are to fit in or live an easier life, then do we really know ourselves.