Time and Adaptation Theme The theme of time and adaptation is used in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire. This theme is used to describe the misfortune of the lead character, Blanche Dubois. Blanche clings to her past as the only source of real happiness in her life. She refuses to accept that things are changing, and she is not the woman she was ten years ago. Blanche looks down at her sister for accepting a life that is relatively obscure when compared to the fashionable surroundings they were raised. Blanche believes that she will rescue by a man who will carry her away from all of her problems. It is a stubborn refusal to adapt to a new life that causes Blanche's descent into Madness.
Blanche clings to her past as the only source of real happiness in her life. She refuses to accept that things have changed.
Portrait of Marlon Brando, "Streetcar Named Desire...
English: Tennessee Williams, American playwright; ...
Cropped screenshot of Vivien Leigh from the traile...She cannot accept that she is no longer young and beautiful, yet she tries continually to convince that she still is. "You know that I haven't put on one ounce in ten years, Stella (22)." Blanche is very insecure about he aging looks, so much so that she feels the need to deceive Mitch, a man she wants to marry. "What it means is I have never had a real good look at you, Blanche? (116)." Blanche is obsessed with making people see her as the girl she was ten years ago, rather than the aging woman she is today. In her own mind she has not changed in ten years. This shows her refusal to accept reality, which is a major reason of her downfall.
Blanche looks down at her sister for accepting a life that is relatively different compared to her posh life style in which they...