[Blanche turns wildly and scratches at the Matron. The heavy woman pinions her arms. Blanche cries out hoarsely and slips to her knees.]
MATRON: These fingernails have to be trimmed.
– Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 11. When the Doctor and Matron arrive to take Blanche to the mental asylum she initially violently resists. She lashes out wildly with her fingernails to scratch the Matron, who pins back her arms to restrain her, and Blanche gives up and falls to her knees. In preparation for her incarceration for insanity, the Matron orders the patient’s nails to be trimmed. So Blanche loses one of the outward signs of her beauty and femininity.