of brutal desire in its most futile form, stemming from animal impulses and hostility that propelled the two towards each other. The rape is an act in which each character is at the peak of their battle, which is to be the "final hand" in the game of desire. Furthermore, a symbolic event that I believe foreshadows the rape is when Stella pours Blanche a drink, a coke with a shot of whiskey. It overflows and spills foam on Blanche’s dress. Upset by being dirty and violated, Blanche screams with a piercing cry about stains on her pastel-colored dress. She says, “Right on my pretty pink skirt.” She is reassured and recovers when the skirt stain comes out. To Blanche, both events give her a feeling of being dirty and violated, and what helps her to recover from these feelings is cleansing. In addition, throughout the novel Blanche soaks in a hot bath to quiet her nerves. Soaking in a hot bath symbolizes Blanches compulsive cleansing of herself of her past. These three events are tapestries of Blanches need to cleanse of her past. One object that holds a symbolic meaning in the novel is the paper lantern. Mitch, a poker friend of Stanley’s, became impressed by Blanche and strikes up a conversation with her after a poker game one night. He behaves like a gentleman and puts a protective “adorable little paper lantern” on one of the bare light bulbs at her request to soften the glare. Blanche says, “I can’t stand a naked light bulb any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.” With the paper lampshade and the proper atmosphere of subdued lighting, Blanche creates a soft, exotic, romantic dream-like world in the room. “We’ve made enchantment,” says Blanche. Symbolically, she is physically, psychologically, emotionally fragile, and hypersensitive to glaring bright lights which would reveal her declining beauty. Later, a drunk and vindictive Mitch arrives to confront ...
