And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!
– Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 1. Blanche doesn’t want to be seen in the light and tells Stella to turn it off. She is trying to hide her age and dark past and doesn’t want her true self and appearance revealed. The light is personified here as a cruel and malign force glaring at her. Dark and light are important symbols in the play, one representing fantasy and the other reality, which Blanche is constantly trying to hide from.