Acceptance in "A Streetcar Named Desire"

The confrontation between the DuBois sisters after Stanley and Stella’s fight reveals a harsh truth that the female characters must contend with. Women who choose to accept their husband’s nature and make do with their situations are left to stay in the domestic environment. Yet women like Blanche, who confront their husband’s untoward tendencies, are left to deal with the guilt of having failed as a woman.

After reconciling with Stanley, Stella defends her actions and declares that, “I am not in anything that I have a desire to get out of” (74). When further pressed by Blanche about not giving in to her situation, Stella turns to, “picking up the broom, twirls it in her hands” (74). In this scene, the broom functions as a symbol of domesticity and submission—Stella is picking up an item to clean a mess that she did not make and, furthermore, a mess that lead her to bodily harm. By picking up the broom, Stella sends a clear message to Blanche: she has no intention of leaving Stanley or holding him responsible for his actions. After all, Stanley will not have to sweep the broken parts or clean up his own mess since Stella intends on doing it for him. Stella is literally and metaphorically prepared to sweep the whole incident under the rug.

         Stella’s acceptance of her situation angers Blanche, who demands to know if her sister is, “deliberately shaking that thing in my face” (75). The broom, as a symbol of domesticity and submission, seems to taunt Blanche, who is a widow. Blanche had married a “boy” and discovered that he was a homosexual by, “coming suddenly into a room that I thought was empty—which wasn’t empty, but had two people in it…the boy I had married and an older man who had been his friend for years” (114). The shock of finding her husband with another man, and someone older, understandably stunned the superficial Blanche. Although she tried to ignore what she had seen, Blanche, unlike Stella, could not ignore her husband’s inherent nature and confronted him saying, “I saw! I know! You disgust me…”(115). This confrontation leads to her husband’s suicide, which sends Blanche into a world of depression, delusion and guilt. By confronting an injustice, Blanche is made to suffer.

         The broom reinforces an underlying notion that women who aim to rectify a wrong are somehow punished for it in the end. Blanche, after confronting her husband for cheating and deceiving her about his sexuality, is left to grapple with the guilt from his subsequent suicide, as well as her own mental breakdown. Stella, by choosing to accept Stanley’s wrong doing, is able to retain her lifestyle and promise of a family.