Pub #2 "It's All Just an Illusion"

Stella in the play "A Streetcar named Desire", is a transparent, yet conflicting character readers often overlook. Her attachment to her husband, Stanley Kowalski, shadows her ability to be seen as an independent, strong woman like her big sister Blanche. In the play, there is an apparent disconnect between Blanche and Stanley, whose lifestyles do not blend in perfect conjunction with one another which leaves Stella in a bind, trying to get her husband and sister to co-exist under one roof. The decision to choose between Blanche or Stanley puts Stella in a difficult place, to pick between love and family. 
"I couldn't go on believing her story and live with Stanley" (Stella 1232). This statement by Stella is very powerful because it displays her internal conflict and how she realizes that choosing to side with her sister, would result in risking her life, essentially, a stable home, comfort, separating from the love she has for Stanley. When Blanche encounters Stanley for the first time, she see right through him, his dominant demeanor, the way he easily manipulates Stella and asserts his masculinity towards her caring nature. Scene Four is an incredible scene that shows the dynamic between Blanche and Stella, their tolerance for love very different. The morning after the poker night, Blanche confronts Stella for taking Stella back. "When I found out you'd been insane enough to come back in here after what happened...What were you thinking of?" (Blanche 63). "I'm not in anything I want to get out of" (Stella 65). Although in the play Blanche is depicted as the character who lives in her own fantasy, Stella is the one who is blindsided by love. She brushes off the incident that happens with Stanley, drunkenly striking her, excusing his behavior with the "boys will be boys" type of response. Stella is so enamored by Stanley that she believes the way he treats her is normal and that is the way love is supposed to be. Stella realizes that if she decided to believe her sister over Stanley, then there would be no valid reason for her to continue living with him, after facing the reality of who her husband truly is. This sudden awareness leaves Stella in a compromising position, yet she sticks by Stanley afraid of the unknown. 
To connect to an outside source, the movie directed by Tyler Perry, "Madea's Family Reunion" shows two sisters, one who is married to an abusive man and another who is a single mother with kids. Lisa, the one who is married to her abusive husband Carlos stays in the marriage trying to please him, convincing herself that this is her life and it is normal. Her sister Vanessa, knows that Carlos is abusing her sister and tries to open her eyes to show her that she can live without him and be someone without him. In the end of the play, when Blanche is taken away from the house Stella is stricken with grief as she realizes what she has done. She was not willing to listen to Blanche and fully grasp the truth of how Stanley was bad for her because she was afraid of letting go of a love that she was accustomed to not taking notice how her decisions would ultimately affect her sister's mental capacity.