Insanity

In the Merriam-Webster dictionary insanity is defined in a plethora of ways. However to tie all the definitions as a whole state that insanity is a lack or disorder of mind that is unreasonable. What I have seemed to find missing is where exactly does the line cross from a person being classified as sane versus someone else who may be classified as insane. It is also missing the difference of insanity in men and women. Men and women are classified as insane for different reasons, which is apparent in the text. This causes the idea that some cultural ideas of sane are defiantly considered insane because going back to the idea of where the line between sane and insane gets drawn. Insanity to me is not defined by an unreasonable lack of mind, but instead an occurrence of events that has pushed a person to their last straw. Men and women in past societies and societies today do not have the same line of insanity because they are not seen as the same yet unfortunate. However the line of sane and insanity is not existent within cultures, but instead with in a person. For example, insanity makes an appearance when a person can no longer take and handle situations that they have been put in during their life which causes other to deem a person insane.

In, A Streetcar Named Desire, there are cultural norms that are considered sane but yet are extremely mind blowing. For instance, the idea that a women needs to be a virgin to obtain the respect of a man is insane considering that it does not apply the other way around. Men are not being classified in the novel as insane for having sex with multiple women. Another incident in this text that defines an aspect as sane which should not have been is when men beat or be demanding of women, yet women are supposed to obey with no arguments back. This idea of a cultural norm of women conforming to men is not sane but insane. These two factors of cultural sanity or truly insane and can even be noticed in today’s society as well. It can also be noted that someone who is classified as insane did not deem their self insane but instead someone else. In cultural sanity, it is sane for someone else to choose when a person is insane because it was once someone else who could have possibly caused a person’s insanity.

It seems as if other characters in the novel, A Streetcar Named Desire, have already classified Blanche as insane and I for one can agree somewhat. Blanche is a woman who has gone through a lot. She came from a wealthy background and high class, however it is noted throughout the piece that she is no longer of high class or wealth. Blanche does everything in her power to escape poverty, which is what turned her insane. A scene in chapter five occurred where Blanche discusses her wanting respect from a man so she wants to come off more as a virgin since she is not one. She wants the respect of a man because she hopes to marry him one day to no longer be poor. However, her perfect man is to save her is no where to be found and instead of trying to make wealth of her own she conforms to the social definition of insanity. She is yet another poor woman stripped of her virginity, which is exactly the line society uses to declare her insane, “just another woman”. Blanche is so unaccepting and disgusted by the idea of not being rich that she turns herself insane. The last straw for Blanche was the scene where Stanley raped her. She no longer had any good conscious of herself other than being a poor and sexual being, which then Stanley used as a means to get her into an insane asylum. While certain individuals in the text may not know this of Blanche, she attempts to keep her social status that at ranked of high. What individuals have failed to noticed and what gets mentioned in the text is that Blanche’s insanity is just her trying not to accept that she is no longer rich or of high class, but her attempting to keep wealth and a social status. Insanity in a woman is not from herself, but instead put on by men. Blanche’s insanity started from losing wealth, but evolved from men being men and revolving everything around vanity. Her line of insanity was drawn when she no longer could handle her life and when people defined her as so.

   

Works Cited

“Insanity.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insanity.