The main plot to Tennesee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire follows a young couple living in New Orleans as the wife, Stella’s, glamorous and erratic sister stays with them. Blanche, the visiting sister, is initially perceived as flighty and snobby. However, once she reveals more of herself ,we see that her vanity is a show to hide her insecurities surrounding her past. Having lost her young husband to suicide, she then lost every other living member of her family save her sister. Finally, prompting her to move to New Orleans, she loses the family estate, Belle Reve. In the midst of her loss, Blanche was involved in sexual endeavors that were beneath her social standing.
In the background, propelling the story, is the trauma response that Blanche is enduring. She witnesses her young husband’s suicide after catching him engaged in sexual activities with another man. The way that Blanche talks about him gives the impression that she blames herself. She calls him just a boy and speaks of how she hurt him. Whenever she does talk about him, it is accompanied by the sound of an approaching train, which brings her inner turmoil to the physical world.
Blanche appears to be in survival mode still many years after her initial loss. She endured many years of constant deaths in her family, which she speaks of tragically. She comes to New Orleans in desperation, nursing an alcohol problem in her grief. Her desperation and inability to find peace are, in part, due to her stature in society, but they are fueled by unprocessed trauma.