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What Does The Paper Lantern Symbolize Blanche Dubois

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Tennessee Williams utilizes the symbol of the paper lantern to underline the differing characters of Blanche and Stanley who stand in contrast concerning their attitudes towards light. As to why she bought the lantern Blanche states, "I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or vulgar action" (Williams 60). With negative word choice of 'rude', 'vulgar' and 'naked', she emphasizes her distaste of being exposed in the light and into reality. The paper lantern that Blanche brings into their home symbolizes her desire to cover up anything and make it appear tantalizing. Her life mirrors that of the lightbulb and the lantern, as she hides her faults and insecurities and reinvents herself. While the lantern solidifies Blanche as a symbol of illusion, it is the interaction between Stanley and the lantern that solidifies the theme of illusion and reality. …show more content…
Williams describes the actions as, "[He crosses to dressing table and seizes the paper lantern tearing it off the light bulb, and extends it toward her. She cries out as if the lantern was herself]" (Williams 189). The simile comparing Blanche to the lantern emphasizes she is the personification of illusion and Stanley must destroy it to his embodiment of reality. Ahmadi Mosaabad Masoud supports such an analysis and states, "As Thus, when Stanley rips her favorite paper lantern with which she identifies herself, he in fact symbolically confronts her world of illusion which is incongruous with his reality" (Masoud). The paper lantern is an important symbol that allows the audience to recognize Blanche's manic actions as a distortion of her reality and illusion which Stanley rips away from her. Not only does the lantern emphasize the theme of illusion vs. reality, but the bathroom does as

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