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Blanche DuBois, the main character in A Streetcar Named Desire, has a fetish about the light. In other words, she’s afraid of the light and does everything she can to avoid it. Afraid of the light? Yep, it sounds crazy. But give Jenny 60 seconds, and she’ll make sense of it. In fact, she’ll even tell you why light is one of A Streetcar Named Desire's main motifs.

Video Transcription:

Hello, ladies. Blanche DuBois here to tell you about my revolutionary new book, Look Years Younger in Less than One Minute. Now some uncivilized people are sayin’ my book’s not worth the cover price. $39.99, they say? For a book that tells you to avoid bright light and see your boyfriend after sunset? But I say

Who turned up the lights?

I told you … No bright lights or the DEAL IS OFF!

In A Streetcar Named Desire, the main character, Blanche, spends a ridiculous amount of time avoiding bright light. She prefers to see Mitch, the guy she’s dating, after dusk. And don’t forget that one of the first things she does when she gets to her sister Stella’s is to put a paper lantern over the bare bulb in her bedroom.

Blanche’s behavior might seem a little silly, but Tennessee Williams actually has important point to make with this motif of light.

Remember from Recap 5 that we spend the entire play watching as Blanche slowly loses her grip on reality. She’s in such despair over what she’s become—basically, a penniless, aging whore—that she retreats into a world of fantasy where she’s still a beautiful young debutante being pursued by handsome millionaires.

And this fantasy is what causes Blanche to avoid the light: She wants to hide her fading beauty both from herself, and especially from men.

Unfortunately, her deception only works for so long. Confronted by Mitch in Scene Nine about the sins of her past, Blanche complies with his wish that he see her in direct light. This is a turning point in the play. The reality of her life exposed, Blanche’s only option is to retreat into a more permanent darkness: Insanity.