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Blanche DuBois - Coggle Diagram
Blanche DuBois
Symbolism
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DuBois means "wood"
Ironically, Blanche is characterised as fragile and unstable even though wood is strong, hard and durable
Blanche appears to be chaste and innocent but she is rather unyielding and manipulative regarding her
The Trunk
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Stanley's treatment of her trunk cannot be passed unnoticed, he treats it with the same violence that he later treats her with
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Allan Gray, whose memory shadows the play
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Belle Reve
The loss of Belle Reve was one of the last of Blanche's misfortunes that led to her mental breakdown
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The Varsouviana Polka
It represents the guilt she feels for Allen's death which ended her innocence and sparked the descent of her mental and emotional stability
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Desire, Cemeteries and Elysian Fields
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Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allen Poe, married his cousin who was 13 years at the time but she died young 11 years later - he then became increasingly mentally unstable
Similarly, Blanche was also haunted by death and almost obsessed with death or dying
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Relationships
Stanley
Symbol of crude masculinity and is characterised as loud, vulgar, gaudy and straight forward
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When his position is threatened he strikes back, usually physically and violently, to assert dominance
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Authorial Context
Williams was very close to his sister Rose, who suffered a mental illness and consequently underwent brain surgery that left her institutionalised
William's mother also represented Blanche as she believed it was unbecoming considering she was of "southern aristocratic descent".
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Socio-Historical Context
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Peaking economic change, industries, capitalism and the working class was on the rise