[In the bathroom the water goes on loud; little breathless cries and peals of laughter are heard as if a child were frolicking in the tub.]
– Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 7. Blanche’s world of fantasy and unreality is well illustrated with a simile that compares her cries of laughter to that of frolicking child in the hot tub. It is as if by bathing she wants to cleanse herself and be reborn as a happy carefree child.