Societal Influence on the Meaning of Insanity

Having initially emerged in the 1600s from a combination of the Latin word “insanitas” and the English word “insane” and being defined as the “state of being insane and having a seriously impaired state of mental functioning”, the word insanity has since evolved to encompass more meanings from various scholarly resources. According to Law.com, insanity is a noun describing a “mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior.” In today’s world, what one categorizes as “insanity” is subjective. For example: if you convince others that the most popular person in a region is the most fit to rule, then you have a republican-style government; and if you convince others that they should obey a person who wears a metal piece on his or her chest and can shoot them for failing to comply, then you have a law enforcement agent. Behaviors and cultural structures like these may seem like madness, however, when a large group of people are acting the same way, it is only sensible to accept actions like these as being legitimate. In this sense, society can be viewed as being the arbiter of sanity, having the right to judge an individual as being sane or not based on what behaviors are widely accepted. Based on Law.com’s definition of insanity, Blanche’s behaviorisms in “A Streetcar Named Desire” are insane in the eyes of others since she continues to cling onto the decaying romanticized values of the Old South despite the world around her embracing the newly emerging age of urban industrialism.

By having the play take place in a cramped, two-room flat in New Orleans, Tennessee Williams is able to draw upon the historical context of the time period to set the stage for the complex drama that takes place. “A Streetcar Named Desire” takes place in 1947, which is two years after World War II. The war had instigated numerous changes to American society. During this time, millions of men had traveled overseas to fight as soldiers and as a result, women contributed to the war efforts by joining the workforce. After the war however, most of the men reassumed their previous job positions, forcing women to return to being homemakers. Moreover, during the war period, the once white-dominated suburbia became increasingly populated by broader groups of people-African Americans, the poor, different ethnic groups, immigrants, the elderly. The play’s atmosphere reflects this change in attitude towards a more diverse community, as can be seen at the beginning of the play when two female characters -one who is colored, and the other, Eunice, who is white- are casually chatting on the steps of a building. Stella and Stanley’s realm of seemingly non-existent segregation is a sharp contrast to Blanche’s childhood in the elitist world of the old South. Blanche is accustomed to divisions of class and often makes intolerant remarks about sexuality -such as when she confronts her homosexual husband about his negative behavior- and ethnicity-calling Stanley a Polack rather than  American or Polish-American.

The decline of aristocratic families traditionally associated with the South following World War II leads to Blanche’s descent into madness. Blanche and Stanley represent two conflicting American societies; Blanche symbolizes the old, romanticized Southern culture while Stanley signifies the newly emerging norm of an industrialized and urban culture. In the play, it is revealed that Blanche has a history of depending on men. However, when she moves in with Stanley and Stella, Blanche’s old habits no longer fit in with the behavior of the new generation of southerners, further symbolizing both her and the Old South’s destruction. Williams also uses light and dark to illustrate Blanche’s insanity. In the story, Blanche repeatedly makes up excuses such as, “turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare” (p. 19). Since the light represents the uncovering of the truth behind Blanche’s lies as well as the circumstances of the real world, Blanche prefers to reside in the shadows which represent the fantasy that she deludes herself into believing. Blanche struggles to adjust to the new societal attitudes around her which greatly contrast with her childhood conditions of growing up on a big plantation with slaves to attend to her needs. At one point, Blanche cries, “I don’t want realism. I want magic!” (p. 117), thus showing her love of imagination which clashes with the practical routine of the utilitarian world that Stanley embodies.

Blanche’s infatuation with maintaining a perfect appearance in front of others is a result of her continued belief in the traditional ideal that women must be “soft and attractive” (p. 79) in order to remain relevant in society. Her downwards spiral of insanity stems from her inability to grasp her changing surroundings and to discern fantasy from reality. Furthermore, Blanche’s degree of insanity is emphasized when she is compared to most other American citizens since she expresses views that are not within the norms for her culture and its expectations; because Blanche does not conform to this new open-minded, and urbanized America, she is seen as an outsider with crazy views.

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