pub 2

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 her life. In this day and age we see a lot of illusion and such on social media outlets. Everyone wants to create this fals 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.