zes. Blanche left her home to join her sister, because her life was a miserable wreck in her former place of residence. She admits, at one point in the story, that “after the death of Allen (her husband) intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with”(Williams 118). She had sexual relations with anyone who would agree to it. This is the first step in her voyage - “Desire.” She said that she was forced into this situation because death was immanent and “The opposite (of death) is desire”(Williams 120). She escaped death in her use of desire. However, she could not escape “death “ for long. She was a teacher at a high school, and at one point she had intimacies with a seventeen-year-old student. The issue was not concealed for long. The revilement of this caused her to be fired and destroyed her image. She was basically banned from Laurel and sent on her next journey - “Cemeteries.” Her final destination was Elysian Fields. Elysian Fields are the mythical resting-places of the gods. This is the place of the living dead. Blanche came to Elysian Fields to forget her horrible past, searching in her soul to have a fresh start in life. Blanche has essentially removed herself from the reality of her life. She has made up this illusionary world that she now lives in. The death of her husband has haunted her throughout her life and the loss of Belle Reve was in a sense a loss of her social status. Since her arrival in Elysian Fields she has buried her past by her illusion of what should be. She has made up a good portion of her past for the majority of the play. She doesn’t neglect telling her past but she only offers part of her history in fear that this is her last hope of survival. Her encounters with Mitch give her hope and she uses her sense of Adcock 3innocence to hold on to him. Stanley, the investigative ...
