In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, the protagonist of the play’s name is Blanche. Just as Neo from The Matrix or Remus Lupin – in the Harry Potter series has an anagram Latin name referring to his werewolf nature – are specifically named to meet their characteristics, Williams does the same with Blanche’s name. Deriving from the Old French “blanche,” meaning “white,” “pale,” or “blank,” the Oxford English Dictionary blankly defines “blanch” as “white, [and] pale” (“blanche,” OED Online).
While Blanche is neither a Christ-figure nor a werewolf, there is significance to her name. In A Streetcar Named Desire, the reader and audiences sees how Blanche is set apart from the rest of the characters in the text. Taking part in New Orleans, a majorly African-American territory, the “white,” “pale,” or “blank” face of Blanche DuBois stands out. Furthermore, not just her face is brighter than those around her, but her attitude and attire as well, as seen in the scene where Stanley Kowalski, Blanche’s brother-in-law, criticizes her clothing for being superior and glamorous.
In keeping the idea of being superior and expensive in mind, we must ask what does it mean to be white? With New Orleans being considered a part of the American South, it is certainly set apart from the top of the United States. There is a racial differentiation between the North and the South, and with Blanche’s supercilious and superior demeanor, it is clear as to why Williams named her “Blanche” and not something less obvious to stress her background. She is a white woman in a region filled with African Americans; a century earlier, it would have been her ancestors who owned the ancestors of those New Orleanians she walks past in the play. The tables have turned on Blanche, as she is broke and in need of support from her sister in New Orleans, whereby it would have been much different prior to her flight from Belle Reve.
Thus, the significance in Blanche’s name does not only come from her air of superiority being a white woman, but also in the fact that she is left blank, without a husband, without a home, and without money. She is now the one in search of help and solace. She needs something. She needs to be painted and filled with colour to restore her life again, making her more than just blank and pale, but colour-filled. Obviously her name would not change to Rouge, Bleu, or Vert, but she would be a more colourful character. However, the static character that she is lends itself to the fact that her name is unchanging. Forever, Blanche will be blanch; this statement holds true from our introduction to the character to her sendoff in the finale of the play.
Williams’ genius shines bright through the blanch face of Blanche, by naming a character something so simple, but weighing much on her character, emphasizing who she is and what her personality is like. The use of names becomes a literary and plot device along with dialogue, music and lighting changes, as well as set pieces and descriptions, such as a streetcar named Desire.
|
Author