Lethe they drink the draught that sets them free from care and blots out their memory."(Quirino 61) This is the place of the living dead. Blanche came to Elysian Fields to forget her horrible past, and to have a fresh start (Quirino 63). In fact Blanche admits in the fourth scene that she wants to "make (herself) a new life" (Williams 135). By understanding the circumstances that brought Blanche to Elysian Fields it is easy to understand the motives behind many of her actions. One such action is Blanches obsessive bathing. This represents her need to purify herself from her past (Corrigan 53). However, it is important to note that Blanche's description of her traveling came before she actually settles into Elysian Fields. The description therefore represents the new life Blanche hoped to find, not what she actually did find.From the beginning we see that Blanche fits in neither with her new neighbors, nor with her physical surroundings. We can see that she did not fit in with the people of the community by comparing the manner in which women in the story handle their social life with men. In the third scene, her husband Stanley beats Stella, who is pregnant at the time. She immediately runs upstairs to her friend Eunices apartment. Soon Stanley runs outside and screams "Stell-lahhhhh" (Williams 133). She proceeds to come down, and they then spend the night together. The next morning Stella and Blanche discuss the past nights events. Blanche asks "How could you come back in this place last night?" (Williams 134). Stella answers, "You're making much too much fuss about this" and later says that this is something that "people do sometimes" (Williams 134). One sees that this is actually a common occurrence by the fact that the same exact thing happens to Eunice and her husband a few scenes later. Later in the story Mitch, Blanche's boyfriend, yells at her and tries to rape her, but she successfully resists him. Afterwards, she tells...
