Victimized characters

The characters in Williams's "Streetcar Named Desire" all fall into victimization by fulfilling the desire of oneself or another. Blanche in the story struggles to build the magical realm around her to fulfilled the expectation of the society. The passive actions of Mitch show that he is vitimized by two women who are important to his life: his dying mother and his love-Blanche.

In order for Blanche to escape the social expectations in Laurel, she had to escape and flee to New Orleans to find protection from her sister. She is victimized by her own desire, which is to find kindness and protection in male; this explains her strange obsession in flirting and sleeping with male strangers. She has to use all her tricks to hide her imperfections to gain male attention by diming the lights and keeping her thin figure. Because of her immoral conducts, she is considered "Out-of-Bounds" and unwelcomed in her hometown. After being kicked out from Laruel, in the the new location in New Orleans, she tries her best to rebuild her perfect southern Belle identity by fulfilling the expectations of the society. She had to act properly to protray the perfect image of a high-class Southern Belle. At the same time, she has to constantly keep secret of her embarassing history of her mischievous nature. This is the reason she is constantly asking Stelle and Mitch for others opinions about her: "what have people [in town] been telling you [Stella] about me"(1571) and "has he [Stanely] talked to you [Mitch] about me?" (1577) As the result, the goal of her whole life was fulfilling the expectation of others; as the result, she is forced to live in the delusions of her mind to stay functional in the society. The way she is forced to live her life result her insanity that reveals at the end the story.

Mitch, on the other hand, is victimized by his love for his sick mother and the delusions of Blanche's image. Mitch, who is fooled by Blanche's delusions, becomes attracted to her and and even plans to ask his mother for permission to marry her. He believes Blanche's lies about her high education and innocence; therefore, when Stanely revealed the disappoining truth about Blanche, he could not handle Blache's lies and the cruel reality. Because of the disappointment, he remained sullen until the end of the story. It is obvious that Mitch is victimized by his dying mother. Not only he scarifices his life by putting off doing the things he desire, like playing poker with his friends, he scarifices his future by marrying his mom approved girl to please his mother. Because of his sympathetic emotions towards his mother, he is vitimized by his mother's control.