Blog #3 topic #3 Deven Benitez

Insanity defined by law is the, “mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior” (Merriam-Webster). Insanity can also include the lack of being able to tell right from wrong. Insanity can even fall under acts of irrational actions such as jumping out of a plane without a parachute.  In reality though insanity is defined by the norms people set in their culture, and every culture will have a different definition of insanity. For this reason I believe Blanches reactions to the world are not rational based on what has happened to her and what we consider insanity in our culture.

Many cultures define sanity by the norms they set for their society, but some of these norms could be insane by definition. An extreme case of this would be the Shiite Muslims. For example, “Shiite Muslims…in commemoration of the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad…join a procession and flagellate themselves with daggers to the head”(All that is interesting.com). To most American citizens this is absolutely crazy. This is also a very irrational act that is technically insane. In the United States something that is considered normal is anxiety, but it actually is definition wise insane. Anxieties, “stress response causes…change so that we are aware of and able react to danger quickly rather than taking time to process information” (Folk). Even though it is temporary, anxiety can cause a difficulty in doing simple task, social malfunctions, and a feeling of losing control. This is technically being insane because you cannot conduct your affairs or sometimes even feel like you are not in reality if you have a severe case. Another thing that could be insane by our culture is doing hard drugs, but the time that a person is on drugs technically makes them insane. They are unable to distinguish reality from fantasy, they can have impulsive behaviors and not sense right from wrong. Many things that people consider normal in today’s cultures are set from a norm, but are actually insane by definition.

By definition I believe that Blanche is not insane in the beginning of the story, but is insane towards the end. First off it’s obvious that Blanche is an impulsive liar about most things. She lies in the beginning to not shock her sister and she also lies about her age, but later on she truly believes these lies that she is telling. Williams writes, “MITCH: Lies, lies, inside and out, all lies. / BLANCHE: Never inside, I didn't lie in my heart” (page 119). She truly believes everything she has said and loses a sense of reality and drifts into a world of fantasy. Second, she makes up a fake person that she continues to believe is real. Williams writes, “BLANCHE: is it for me then! Is it the gentlemen I was expecting from Dallas” (page 187). Again she has drifted into this fantasy world that is separate from reality. What really pushed Blanche into pure insanity though was after she was raped by Stanley. Blanche was a very delicate person who had a lot of anxiety and low self-esteem after Stanley rapes her she drifts into this world of pure fantasy where she doesn’t have to face the harsh realities of the real world and what is has done to her and left her with. It was very possible that Blanche suffered from anxiety, OCD, and possibly bi polar disorder as she has very high moments and very low moments throughout the story. These would have interfered with her view on reality, affected her affairs, and caused impulsive behaviors. By definition at the end of this play Blanche is insane and needs to go to the insane asylum.