Blanche DuBois...Friend or Foe?

Throughout "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams, I could not seem to figure where I stood. Although she was extremely irritating to the point where I wanted to kill her, she was also so pathetic at times that I felt like I just wanted to help her and straighten her out. Blanche was a very confused individual. She often mixed up the truth and her fantasies so much that I even became unsure of where the truth ended and where the lies began. It is unclear to me of whether or not she even knew that she was mixing up the truth with fallacies. When confronted by Mitch, it does seem that she pulls herself together and finally talks sensibly but it could just be a coincidence that she finally sees reality, or is simply snapped into it by force.

Thinking back over the story, I feel that an institution might be the right place for Blanche after all. She seems too unstable for the “real world” and she shows signs of some type of mental illness. At times, Blanche seemed to know exactly what she was doing and was just a very manipulative, conniving individual, yet at others, she was a lost little girl. For example, in the scene where she is trying to be a “proper” Southern belle around Mitch and she rolls her eyes, this shows her scheming, no good ways. A contradictory scene however, is when she is confronted by Stanley about losing Belle Reve. In this scene, Blanche seems completely helpless and just crumbles and falls to pieces (much like the loss of Belle Reve) under the pressure of Stanley’s accusations. In this way, Blanche just seems to need some tender guidance.

Although Blanche rubbed me the wrong way in entirety in this piece of writing, I also feel like she should be given a chance, and a benefit of the doubt. She could suffer from some kind of split personality disorder that could cause her to act in such bizarre ways. In this case, she should be given special care and attention, for it is not her fault that she acted so poorly in relation to her sister’s new way of life. She is not responsible for acting so arrogant and condescending towards Stanley. The question, however, still remains: Is Blanche mentally stable, or not? Is she a friend or foe?

Janie Finds Her Voice

The ending of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston was definitely a twist. Here I thought the author was setting up the story so that Janie would never find love or her “horizon”. To my surprise however, she did find it, yet had to choose between love and independence. After all this searching, it is odd that Janie is the one to end her own search for love. Even though Hurston’s piece of writing had many different contradictory aspects to it, I would argue that it is a primarily feminist novel. In the end, for example, Janie chooses to kill her husband. Even though it was in order to survive, this shows her strength and independence shinning through. It was not that she did not love Tea Cake, as she did show true remorse for her husband’s death this time around, but it was that it was no longer the most important thing in the world to her. Her curiosity had now been quenched. The fact that Janie also walked all the way back to her hometown in the same day that her husband died showed enormous willpower to carry on.

After the death of Tea Cake, Janie did not break down along her journey back home, nor cry over the loss of her love. This shows that women do not need a high social status, nor a husband or loved one around in order to be themselves and to be strong. Janie was able to carry on, a content woman, after having accomplished and acquiring both of these things. She was happy with her simple way of life, and she no longer cared about what the people around her thought or gossiped about. Janie did not need the financial backing or protection of some prestigious man (like Logan), as her grandmother had told her and she was glad to prove Nanny wrong. Janie is finally an independent, satisfied woman at the end, who is free of restrictions (such as Joey), and who is left with happy memories of the type of love that she always searched for (of Tea Cake).

I feel that this novel, although it does seem to show woman’s inferiority to men at times, such as to Jody when he yells at Janie and Tea Cake when he beats her, is a feminist novel. It tells the adventures of a woman who is finding herself, and who strikes out on her own in the end. It portrays the types of hardships that she has to face and go through, in order to find her own way in the world. The main concentration of the book is on Janie who breaks gender roles such as playing checkers with her husband and learning how to shoot. Janie also, in a very vibrant way, breaks free of all inferiority to men, by killing her husband, and in doing so, finds her voice so to speak and finally is able to remove all the shackles in which the community has placed on her.

Did Janie Ever Find True Love?

In “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s strong character and search for love really stood out to me. I enjoyed how Hurston begins with the quote “Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.” I feel that this sets up the novel for the type of individual which Janie is. Janie is a strong-willed, stunning young woman, who is searching for love. Love however; that she does not really think exists. This quote shows that she is living in her own little world, secluded from all reality in her own wishes and dreams.

Janie, though she dreams about love, knows nothing about it. I feel that Janie knows nothing about it because of the fact that she has no role models in her life that can show her what true love is. I find this sort of tragic for everyone should know what true love is, in some sort of form. Most children have parents or members of their family that are in love, however Janie does not. Even the only family member that she has, Nanny, does not believe in love, and only wants to make sure that Janie is “provided for”, not loved. Nanny even tells Janie that she will simply grow to love Logan Killicks. I feel that Janie almost shuts out the rest of the world, along with the huge issue of segregation that was present during her time, because she believes that true love does not exist. She feels that it is unobtainable and almost impossible to find, yet because of her persistent personality, she keeps searching for the answer to her dreams, love.

Even at the beginning of the novel, when Janie comes walking back into her old town, I question whether or not she ever found love. The townspeople claim that she was always looking for a better life or a higher-classed type of life and Joe could have just been the answer to that. I also question whether Janie just went off with Joe in order to escape the cruel and harsh life that she had with Logan. The question that lingers in my mind after these first five chapters is: Did Janie ever fall in love with Joe or was he just someone that swept her off her feet because of the type of lifestyle he led and she wanted?