A Streetcar Named Desire & The 'moth'

Today, we start to read a new play which is also the final play that we will read for this course. The title of the play is “A Streetcar Named Desire” written by Tennessee Williams. Before we start reading the play, Dr. Edwin gave a brief explanation about the history of the play like when it was written and what era was it written. He also gave a brief synopsis of the play. This time around I don’t feel anxious or restless like I used to every time we’re starting to read a new play. Probably it’s because this play was written in modern English so understanding it would not be a problem. But I don’t dare to put much expectation on this play. I prefer taking it one step at a time. Today, we stop reading until page 4, to be exact we stop at the narration that describes Banche. “Her delicate beauty must avoid strong light. There is something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggest a moth”. These are the two last line of the narration that describes about Blanche. Dr. Edwin asks the class something about the relation or similarity between the moth and Blanche. In my opinion, the moth relates to Blanche because just like a moth which avoids being near bright lights, Blanche is the same. The earlier description on Blanche’s appearance indicates that Blanche is someone who cares about her appearance and her beauty. She is probably obsessive with her youth. The word ‘delicate’ is probably refers to Blanche aging beauty. That’s why she avoids being near bright light because bright lights reveals her true age. Usually when someone is near bright light we can see clearly the person’s face. His/her scars, wrinkles, pimples etc. So, for Blanche, being near bright light made her feel insecure because she scared that any imperfection on her face will give away her true age.