MITCH: It’s dark in here.
BLANCHE: I like it dark. The dark is comforting to me.
MITCH: I don’t think I ever seen you in the light.
– Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 9. Mitch tells Blanche that he has never seen her in a lighted room. She won’t go out on dates in the afternoon, but only after six and to dimply lit places, he complains. Light is a important motif in the play. Blanche finds comfort in the absence of light. She tries to hide the truth about her age and fading beauty from Mitch, and from herself. She cannot bear to have the fantasy of her youth and beauty shattered by the cruel light of reality. Appearances are very important to Blanche.