I went through many waves of revelation with this piece. I started it with not really understanding why Stanley had his stature that he had and just trying to rap my mind around Stella and Blanche. It helped going into it the second time really knowing a lot about their characters and really going into it with a deep understanding of the context – It is Post world war and Stanley is getting back from the war. Blanche needs a place to stay because of war related issues.
Also the more time I spent with it, I started to understand Blanches’ flirtatious nature and why she is so concerned about it. She does that out of the hole in her heart because she doesn’t see her genuine self as valuable; she has seen that she can earn herself things she wants with just having flirtatious charm, so that is what she brings to the table. Her relatioship with Mitch ending was rather sad because she was actually about to set him apart as a real man to commit to and then he finds out about what she has done and he too- treats her like all of the other men do – like property.
I started to realize that Stella has also probably got some mental strongholds she needs to work through. I drew a comparison and realized a big reason why she is attracted to Stanley. If Blanch is that toxic, delusional, and selfish then that is what Stella is used to so she has developed a threshold for being mistreated and keeping quiet. She is used to conforming and taking care of that kind of person. She overlooks it because oh his masculinity that she finds attractive
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