Published Writing #2, Quote Elaboration

" I couldn't go on believing her story and live with Stanley" (Stella, 1232). 

A Streetcar named Desire is solely based on a feuding triangle of two sisters and a husband, yet there are complications that lie within all three.  All of them create some sort of illusions for themselves to keep them from becoming something that they never want to be, their true selves.  “I couldn’t go on believing her story and live with Stanley,” (Stella, 1232). Stella had said this after she had found out that Blanche, her sister, was raped by Stanley, Stella’s husband.  Even though the act of rape was absolutely uncalled for and utterly extreme, Stella seemed even more concerned with the well being of her sister’s psyche.  Since Stella finally sees the façade that Blanche had shrouded herself with, to her, it seems like she has to choose between her sociopathic and possibly psychotic sister and her brutal, abusive, and now rapist of a husband.  I feel that Stella is most definitely pinned between two almost impossible choices.

Stella was most likely, even though she knew that she was out of her mind, leaning towards having Blanche stay with her.  According to the text, Stella was “sob[bing] with inhuman abandon” (Williams, 1238) when Blanche was being moved to a mental hospital after being raped by Stanley and having her illusion come crashing down upon her.  This shows and explains why Stella would rather be with Blanche than Stanley.  Even look at the quote, the explanation is right there as well, “believing” and “liv[ing]” are two very separate entities.  Even if she stopped believing in Blanche’s stories and the made up world she had created, she was still her sister and she still loved her more than anyone as the playwright defines many times.  Take it from Stella’s point of view here, if she stayed with Stanley, who knows what he could do to her?  For all we as the audience know, he could have raped her, too!  If I were Stella, I would keep away from Stanley and try to visit Blanche as often as possible to be with one and not the other, if she was to truly choose one over the other.        

To relate this to any sort of psychology, there are so many different reasons that Blanche or either Stella or Stanley created their own little illusions.  One that sticks out in my mind the most would be as a defense mechanism.  Something that all people have (well, most unless you have some sort of mental disorder or deficiency that doesn’t allow one to have any) is the natural defense that our minds put up without a conscious thought.  These are considered involuntary in nature and are frequent in society today.  We as humans always have something to hide, whether it is feelings or something about ourselves that you would never want anyone else to know.  For instance, a homosexual man or woman staying “in the closet” instead of flaunting it like it’s going out of style.  With this example, it would always be because being gay is inherently frowned upon by our modern day society.  Even though many are tolerant, a lot more may not be.  To relate directly to the quote, defense mechanisms keep our desires in check.  The sheer belief that Stella had in her sister is much stronger than the desire she may have for her husband, whether it is lovingly or sexually, we cannot tell for sure.  Yet, without defense mechanisms, Stella might have just said good riddance to Blanche’s removal and gone back to her abusive life with her brute of a husband.