1160 Wilson, August
we soon learn are more theoretical than practiced.
Living in close proximity to jazz joints, bars, and
the cries of street barkers does not suit Blanche’s
intense fragility, depicted through her manner-
isms, which the playwright says “suggest[s] a moth.”
Furthermore, Blanche’s speech indicates a woman
barely in control of her senses, as she speaks in a
rush of excitement, moving from elation to despair
in a single conversation, a trait Stella finds alarm-
ing. Although we learn that Blanche had virtually
no other option than to find refuge in her sister’s
dingy apartment, her flight to New Orleans is
clearly a regrettable choice.
Two sets of circumstances precede Blanche’s
retreat to the French Quarter. First, the former
southern belle was unable to maintain the family
estate, a grand plantation home named Belle Rêve.
Although Stanley is suspicious that Blanche has
truly “lost” the home, she produces paperwork that
quells these doubts. Although it appears Blanche
was defenseless against the forces that snatched
Belle Rêve from the DuBois family, her guilt over
the loss of the home remains palpable.
Later in the play, Williams reveals that Blanche,
a high school English teacher, was essentially exiled
from Laurel, Mississippi, the town where she lived
before joining Stella and Stanley. Her leaving is also
the result of regrettable behavior. Although Blanche
desperately tries to hide her recent past, Stanley,
through contacts at work, learns that Blanche’s
scandalous behavior had worn out her welcome in
Laurel, having brought men to a hotel called the
Flamingo, earning a dismal reputation among the
locals. Although she initially denies these affairs, she
confesses to Mitch, a sensitive beau whom she hopes
will marry her, that she brought a 17-year-old boy,
presumably her student, to the hotel, and it is this
news that found its way back to the school super-
intendent. When he learns the truth about Blanche,
Mitch leaves in disgust, ending the possibility of
marriage.
Although one may find much to condemn
Blanche for at this point, it is important to bear in
mind the original act that set her on her path of
inevitable destruction, her ultimate regret. At 16,
already lost in a world of romantic idealism, Blanche
married a young man, Allan, whom she and Stella
say she more than loved—she worshipped him.
But Blanche discovered Allan’s secret homosexual-
ity, and her open rejection of him spearheaded his
suicide and plunged Blanche into a world of ever-
lasting darkness. Now, as she ages, Blanche regrets
her youthful impetuosity and cannot forgive herself
anymore than she can stop loving Allan. All she can
do is try to replace him with a series of romantic
encounters.
By the end of the play, Blanche’s tricks are played
out. Stanley, who is brutal toward Blanche from the
beginning, ultimately unleashes his animalistic fury
on her, raping her the same evening on which Stella
gives birth to their first child. As Blanche is taken to
a mental institution, the lack of regret is astonishing.
The scene opens with Stanley playing poker with
his buddies, a startling decision considering that
he and Stella are awaiting the doctor who will take
Blanche away. Mitch, completely defeated, makes
a stand against Stanley, but he is no match. Stella,
shockingly, implies she believes that Blanche has
been raped. However, with her upstairs neighbor’s
prompting, the new mother stands by her husband.
The final image of the play, after Blanche has been
taken off, is of Stanley reaching into Stella’s dress,
using his sexual prowess to shamelessly begin put-
ting his house back in order now that the woman he
viewed as interloper is gone.
Chris BellwiLSoN, auGuST Fences (1985)
Fences, one of the 10 plays in the cycle by August
Wilson (1945–2005) sometimes known as the Pitts-
burgh Cycle, was first performed on April 30, 1985.
In 1987, it received both the Pulitzer Prize and the
Tony Award for best play. Like the other plays in the
cycle, Fences explores the lives of African Americans
living in the Hill District of Pittsburgh in the 20th
century.
The main character, Troy Maxson, moves
through life bitterly, unable to appreciate the bless-
ings of his life, such as his dynamic, loving wife
Rose, whom he seems to adore and yet to whom
he is unfaithful; his son Corey’s football success,
which he distrusts due to his own disappointments
as a younger man; and his friendship with Bono,