A Streetcar Named Desire Throughout the play, light, plays a big role in describing Blanche’s emotions. Light represents many different things for Blanche: the light of her past, not wanting to be seen in the light, the light of her and Allan’s love. As lights dim and brighten throughout the play so do her emotions. She goes from being the most beautiful person who loves to be seen, to never wanting to be seen in the light again. Her emotions take a dramatic turn also, going from happy to depressed and self-conscious. Blanche had a rough past that she tries to escape by leaving her home. She travels to go live with her sister and her brother in law. Throughout the play she does everything she can to try to not talk about and avoid her past. But everyday her past haunts her. The darkness of her past is trying to come through but she tries to stop the darkness from dimming her present already dim light. But during the play little hints come up, and people start to realize that something deeper happened in her past. “But I’ve got to be good- and keep my hands off of children. Pg. 99” This relates to Blanche’s past because she had slept with one of her students. Later in the play Blanche starts to go insane when she is talking to Stanley; she starts seeing shadows and reflections on the walls. Her past is starting to come up and the dim light is dimming more and more, because she fears she is in danger with her past coming to the surface. The entire time Blanche stays with Stella and Stanley, she lives in fear. Light also plays a big role in Blanches love life with Mitch. Mitch is a good man, and is the one who will treat Blanche right. Even though they date, Blanche does not like to be seen in the light, especially in front of him, because she does not want him to watch her beauty fade. She lies to Mitch about her age because she does not want people to know how old she is. When Blanche first meets Mitch at Stanley’s poker night she puts a paper lantern over the light so that the light would dim and they would not be able to see each other as well. “I bought this adorable little colored paper lantern at a Chinese shop on Bourbon. Put it over the light bulb…I can’t stand a naked light bulb. Pg. 60.” From the beginning of the relationship to the end she would not let him see her in a bright light. When they went on dates she would not go during the day or in any bright restaurants. William’s does not only use light to symbolize her past but also her present relationship with Mitch. Not all of Blanche’s past was dark and something she wanted to escape. Her past also had a very bright light, in fact the brightest light in her life. “When I was sixteen, I made the discovery- love. All at once and much, much to completely. It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow. Pg.114” It was her love for her husband, Allan and the marriage they shared together. Blanche became deeply in love with Allan when she was just sixteen years old. Allan meant everything to Blanche and it was the best relationship she had ever had until a tragic ending. Blanche describes her love for Allan as a gleaming, bright light. After Allan died that light became very dark. “The headlight of the locomotive glares into the room as it thunders past. Pg. 114.” Every relationship she has had with another man after Allan has never compared to the bright light that represented her and Allan’s relationship. The relationships have been very dim ever since. These relationships are dark because she is scared of being hurt again. Tennessee Williams made this one symbol link to so many different parts of Blanches life. The light represented more than just a relationship; it represented her insecurities, her old life, and the different emotions she went through. While Blanche may have had many different emotions through the play, the light kept on changing with them. Blanche learned that after Allan died she was never going to regain that bright light, but she still tried to replace it, but every time she tried the light was always dimmer than before.