" In summation, Berkman finds Blanche to be in a continual search for the confidence and romance of a relationship, once provided by the late Allan Grey.
Reality and change forces itself upon an unexpecting, unprepared Blanche who can find no way to deal with the harsh truths thrust at her. Streetcar brings Blanche face to face with truths she cannot face: violence, immorality, and bestiality. It is because of her cultured, old-fashioned ways she treks not from "a streetcar named desire to Elysian Fields", but from desire to dementia. Blanche DuBois's collapse in A Streetcar Named Desire takes place because she cannot cope with the clashing of her fantasies vs. Stanley's realism, old South vs. new South lifestyles, and her old-fashioned perception of romance and sex.
Blanche DuBois has a problem accepting the realities posed by those she lives and interacts with in her new home. She will not come to terms with the changes associated with her aging because she does not want to lose her youth and beauty. Her appearance is changing from the young, ideal Southern Belle she once was. Blanche cannot even look in a mirror any more, lest she end up breaking it in anger of her appearance (151). Blanche also has a grave fear of a naked light bulb as it exposes her aging face, and metaphorically, reality (60). She is also afraid Mitch will lose his desire for Blanche if he knew her true age (60). Blanche's failure to accept reality creates conflict in her new life.
A major part of Blanche's problems result from her failure to deal with fantasies clashing with reality because she fears losing her mental and social security. She purposely misrepresents things to people through her intentional lies such as the "fib" she told Mitch about her age(60). This lie is further evidence of Blanche's refusal to accept the truth: she, like the rest of the world, is aging. In fact, she blatantly says that she is more interested in, as Mary Ann Corrigan says, "Being forced to face the kind of reality that she refuses to recognize as significant is the cause of Blanche's breakdown"(54).
