Blog post #2

Word count: 751
When analyzing Blanche from a mental perspective rather than analyzing her from a characteristics/traits point of view it brings into question if Blanche was afflicted by some mental disorder or not. In face value one could argue that she had some loose screws but that is only looking at her in the surface and ignoring the facts that are given throughout the play. The word “Insane” has been used to describe people who are not well in the head or for lack of better words not sane. But the both those words have different backgrounds that could be used to explain both Blanche’s behavior and her ultimate demise.
To begin the analysis, it would be wise to define “sanity”, “insanity” and “sane”; to fully understand and not confuse how this analysis will investigate Blanche and her actions. Firstly, the word “sane” and “sanity” have rather extremely close definitions that could lead to someone making a mistake on its usage and its meaning. “Sane” is used as a state of mind to describe one’s mental balance; whilst “sanity” is the positive side of that balance in which one is rational and in a good mental state. Through that last definition one can assume that “insanity’ would then be the opposite of “sanity” thus it means: irrational, crazy or in a state of madness dealing with the mind. And while that is true, there are other definitions that have been forgotten in the more modern world because they are either incoherent or they don’t have a scientific bases backing its meaning. One of these definitions is that of being a disease one that is both physical and mental, depending on the country or cultural background the cause also differs. If looking at the word “insanity” from the perspective of an anthropologist that studies primitive societies or indigenous people, they would say that the cause of someone’s insanity is due to the spirits or a curse. Another definition that has long been forgotten is that of the bodily fluids or in other words their “Humors”, which is a theory that the Greeks had for a long time. Of course, such theories were forgotten about because of how baseless they were with absolutely no proof that they were true or correct.
Which leads to why only the first definition can be used to analyze Blanche, because it has the most logical and scientific sense. Although insanity is a state of mind that deals with madness and mental illness it can be used in ways to criminalize and or blame people if it fits the criteria. This criterion is what is most important when looking at Blanche, it is so open ended, and the wording is so vague and easy to manipulate to one’s situation that it may cause problems. That is why would looking at Blanche’s arrival one may say she is just a normal woman in her thirties that is just a tiny bit hysterical because her life is a mess at her age. Blanche’s age plays a huge part in trying to classify her sanity because culturally a woman her age should be happily married and with at least two or four children. This cultural pressure although she tries to shrug it off and act like she is fine plays a part in her overall breakdown as well as having so many things go wrong in a short amount of time for her. But of course, the final breaking point was one: losing Mitch and getting drunk in her sister’s house in her very lonely birthday and two: being raped/assaulted by Stanley.
After taking in account those two final events then one can look at Blanche and try to analyze her to finally decided whether she is insane or not. As someone with background knowledge in psychology and mental illness Blanche was in fact insane, only at the very end of the play. But one could argue that her anxieties from the very beginning count as already being insane and that perhaps she was just barely hiding her insanity by only acting out so cool and calm but only showing her worries to Stella or Mitch. Another reasoning to this argument is that she would hit on any men she saw or came across even Stanley, showing that she released her irrational desire for men at any given moment. In the end truly showing that she had no sense of control over herself or her desires leading to her eventual demise and insanity.