Blog 3 Topic 3

After a quick google search, one can find that the definition of insanity is “the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness” or “extreme foolishness or irrationality.” The philosopher Nietzsche once said “those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” In its entirety, the definition of insanity become relative to, as the author Ray Bradbury puts it, “who has who locked in what cage.”

Every society has its own definition of insanity. For example, hundreds of years ago the sacrificing of humans would have been seen as normal but in today’s society it would be a crime and the person who would have committed it would be deemed insane. Therefore, it is important to establish that the idea of insanity comes from what the majority of people deem as “normal” since there really isn’t a clear cut form of what insanity is. An act that is deemed “sane” in one culture may not be seen in the same light as with another culture.

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche is often viewed as insane as the story progresses and the ending, with her being sent to a mental institute, seems to support many claims to her insanity by people. However, if one were to look at her and carefully analyze her actions it can be said that she was acting well in her right state of mind in response to the conditions of what was happening around her. By definition, the meaning of the word rational is “based on or in accordance with reason or logic.” If one were to really look at Blanche’s life and how she reacts to them, one can argue that she has acted with all reason and logic.

Blanche’s actions can be defended by the mere fact that she is adjusting to a new world. Blanche, coming from being a societal elite in Belle Reve to being “one” with the lower class in Elysium Fields, is acting and reacting based on the fact that she is a world that is unknown to her. She presses her hands on her ears(p.40) when she doesn’t want to know something that doesn’t align with her view on reality, she kisses a young boy and plays with Mitch’s feelings because of a scarring relationship she once had(p.95-96), and all her other actions all have a somewhat rational explanation behind them. Coming from the perspective of others that have not experienced anything that Blanche has experienced, they would view her as insane for acting the way she did since they could not understand what was going on in her mind. The idea that a person can be judged and ostracized for feeling something another person can’t feel. Prior to the turn of the century, being homosexual was considered to be a mental illness but is now celebrated all over the world today since more and more people have begun to accept its place in the world. If more people had acted the way Blanche did then she would not have been seen as insane. If anything, it could even be said that Stella was insane for always coming back to Stanley after every time they fought and he hurt her, but, as seen even with Steve and Eunice, it was normal for those type of interactions to happen and having the couple end up back together again.

The idea of sanity is one that society will always be changing. The only guidelines that we have are those that fit the majority of the people in society thus we dub it as “normal.” In fact the definition of “normal” is “conforming to a standard; usual, typical or expected,” thus society labels those that do not conform with the rules as insane or mentally ill. Blanche may have acted in a way that many would not, but based on what has happened to her is it not reasonable or at least rational for her to behave that way?