Fantasy vs.

Reality
Final Draft
Judy Hoang
English 10
6/9/14

Fantasies are crushed by reality many times, just like in Cinderella. Cinderellas

fantasy was to go to the ball, so her fairy godmother made her a dress and carriage to

go. Then when the clock struck twelve all her fantasy turned back into reality. Her

carriage turned back into a pumpkin and her big beautiful dress was gone. Similarly, in
the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Blanche had fantasies about

a lot of things. She believed that she was younger and that she would marry someone.

She ended up going crazy when reality hits her. Also in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D.

Salinger, Holden had fantasies about growing up. He realised he couldnt stay a child

forever and reality hits him. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston,

Janie had fantasies about how marriage was going to be. Then when she finally got

married it was a whole new world for her. The message was shown through the theme

of fantasy vs. reality in all three books was that how reality overcame fantasy.
Fantasies about, love, class, and age were all crushed by reality in the three books.

The theme of fantasy vs. reality was shown by how Blanche had fantasies about

Shep Huntleigh loving her and taking her away and Mitch loving her enough to marry

her but those fantasies never come true. Blanche just wanted to be with someone and

to stay in one place. She wanted them to love her and take her in. That didnt really

happen though. The relationships werent real. She wanted them more for their stability

and money not for their love. Blanche believed that Shep Huntleigh would take her

away and that she would be happy. Stella knew that Blanches fantasy wasnt real when

she said this , I - just told her that - wed made arrangements for her to rest in the

country. She got it mixed in her mind with Shep Huntleigh. (Williams, Pg. 132)

Blanches fantasy was to go off with Shep. She actually thought that Shep was a real

person. She also thought that he liked her. In reality, Blanche was going crazy and Shep

was most likely not even a real person. She made herself believe that Shep was coming

for her. What really happened was that the doctors came and took her away. Also,

Blanche had another fantasy that Mitch would be with her. She thought that Mitch would

love her and actually be with her. Her fantasy was for Mitch to love her and marry her.

Blanche was with Mitch when she said this, Blanche: Then marry me Mitch! Mitch: I

dont think I want to marry you any more. (Williams, Pg 120) Blanche thought that she

could settle down with Mitch and get married. She didnt have to bother her sister
anymore and she would live the rest of her life easy and happy. That was her fantasy.

The reality was that Mitch found out about all the bad stuff that happened in her past.

He knew that she made mistakes. He didnt like that she slept around with a bunch of

other guys. He really didnt want to be with her after that. Blanches fantasy of settling

down and having stability was crushed. She instead got hit with the reality that one of

them isnt even real and that the other one doesnt like her.

Holden also had fantasies about love. He had fantasies about Jane. He liked

Jane but he never had the courage to call her. It ended up with Holden just having
fantasies about him being with Jane than him actually being with her. He thought about

calling her but it always ended up like this, I thought of giving old Jane a buzz to see if

she was home yet and all, but I wasnt in the mood. What I did do I gave old Sally

Hayes a buzz. (Salinger, Pg. 105) Holden wanted to give Jane a call and hang out. You

could tell that he liked her because he thought about her a lot. In reality, every time he

does think about her he just calls someone else, or he just says that he doesnt want to

call her when he really does. His fantasy about being with Jane was crushed by the

reality of him not being able to talk to her. Even when Jane was downstairs he still

wouldnt go. I oughta down and say hello to her, at least. Why the hell dont cha

instead of keep saying it? Stradlater said. (Salinger, Pg. 45) Holden kept saying that he

would see Janie but he doesnt. You could tell he really wanted to see her but he was

afraid. Even Stradlater asked him why he kept saying he wanted to see Jane instead of

actually doing it. Holden had these fantasies about Jane but it wouldn't necessarily

become a reality if he didnt do something about it.

Janie found it hard to get married because she fantasized marriage with love in it.

She fantasized that when she got married she would be in love with the guy that she

married. The reality was that her marriages had no love. She thought that marriages

needed love. That was her fantasy, to be in a loving marriage and that they would both

benefit from it. She thought love was like this, The shiver of the tree from root to tiniest
branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was marriage.

(Hurston, Pg. 11) Janie though that with marriage there would be love. She thought that

the love would be just like the tree. She thought that with love they would benefit out of

the marriage and that both of them would be happy. The good, typical, kind of love.

Well, she was wrong. Two of her marriage where not out of love. The reality of their

marriage was that the men both made her work and she was not happy or in love.

When she got married to her first husband she thought that love would come. Yes, she

would love Logan after they were married, (Hurston, Pg. 21). Janie thought that if she
married Logan, like her nanny told her, she would be in love. She thought that maybe

after they got married she would have felt the love magically somehow. She thought that

after you got married maybe that husbands and wives are supposed to love each other.

She tried so hard to love him too. The reality is marriages aren't like that. You cant love

someone if you dont actually love them. Janie went to her nanny and told her Cause

you told me Ah mus gointer love him, and, and Ah Dont, (Hurston, Pg. 23) After a

couple months of marriage she still wasn't feeling the love. She found out that granny

only want her to marry him for his money. She just didn't want to see Janie suffer the

way she did in her mariages. Janie thought that marriages would be love and they

would have benefited each other.When in reality her marriages turned out to have no

love it was not fun for her.

In The Street Car Named Desire Blanche had a fantasy that she was in a higher

class than she actually was. Blanche dressed like she was in a higher class because

she still thought that well, she was still in a higher class. When in reality, she lost all her

money and became poor.When Blanche came to Elysian Fields she dressed like this,

She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace, and earrings of

pearl (Williams, Pg 15) The way Blanche dressed showed what she wanted to be.

She wanted to be in a higher class. She thought that if she just dressed like a high class

person people would think she's high class. She didnt fit in the lower class setting but
she liked it because it showed how much better she was. She fantasized that she was

high classed. When in reality, Blanche was not in a higher class. We find out when

Stella tells Stanley that her clothes are actually not high class. Those are inexpensive

summer furs that Blanche had a long time. (Williams, Pg. 36) The reality is that

Blanche is not highclass. All the high class clothing that she had was either given to her

or she kept it from when she was high class. She is basically homeless. She has no

cash nothing. She told Stanley, Everything that I own is in that trunk. (Williams, Pg.

41) Her clothes only gave her the fantasy that she was part of a higher class. When in
reality she's not. Blanches fantasy was so deep that she didnt realize that she was no

longer in the higher class. When she did realize that she was not in a higher class, she

knew she couldnt keep it up by wearing these clothes.

Holden fantasized being in a lower class and to not be around anyone. He

fantasized about being alone and away from society in the lower class, so that no one

could bother him. He really wanted to leave his class and just live his life. He wanted to

leave his class to be invisible. He imagined himself away from everybody like this, I

thought what Id do was Id pretend I was one of those deaf mute. That way I wouldnt

have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody. (Salinger, Pg.

198) Holden thought that he could just become deaf and just leave his upper class

status. His fantasy was to run away from everyone.and just to pump gas for a living.

Which is very different to what he was doing. He didnt realize that running away in to

the real world was harder than he thought.You can't just run away from being in a high

class to just pumping gas with minimum wage. That's not how it works. He really

thoughts that he could just run away and not be here anymore. He thought he could just

move away. Well stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out.

(Salinger, Pg. 132) Holden had this repeating fantasy that he could just do use all his

money and just make more. He only has a little money and it's not that easy to make

more. Especially if he doesnt finish school. He thought that if he ran away everything
would be better. Holden just wanted a simple life in a lower class.When in reality he

can't just runaway, he's still young and he has no experience with the real world

Joe fantasized that he had power because he was in a higher class. He thought

that he could control everyone including Janie. Joe married Janie only so that she could

be a trophy wife. Ah never married Her for nothing lak dat. Shes uh woman and her

place is in de home. (Hurston, Pg. 43) When Janie married Joe she thought that she

didn't have to work and that she would be in a high class. Basically she would be set for

life. What really happened was that Jody let the money get to his head. He bossed over
Janie and made her work. This was not what she thought it was going to be. Not only

did he class her off Janie. He used his money for himself. He made it obvious that he

was the one in the higher class and that he was the one in power. The rest of the town

looked like servants quarters surrounding the big house (Hurston, Pg. 47) Jody

thought that he had all the power. That he was so much better than all the towns

people. He thought he was better because he was in a higher class and that he had

more money. What he didn't realize was everyone else in the town was basically poor.

His fantasy ended when he realized that he was losing power. He was getting old and

he knew he couldnt hold on to that power. People who never had known what it was to

enter the gate of the Mayors yard unless it were to do some menial job now paraded in

and out as his confidants (Hurston, Pg. 83) When he was dying he realized that his

whole town cared for him. He let anyone in even people that he wouldnt usually let in.

He was supposed to be the mayor of the town. Not some supreme leader. His fantasy

was that he was so much better than everyone else when in reality he wasnt really

taking good care of his town. He knew when he was dying that he was wrong. He just

wanted to seem better than the rest of them.

Blanche had the fantasy that if she was younger than people would like her. She

thought that if she was young she could get Mitch. What she didnt know was that Mitch

really didnt care about age. Blanche believed that she was younger than her sister.
Yes, Stella is my precious little sister. I call her little in spite of the fact shes somewhat

older than I. Just slightly. (Williams, Pg. 55) Blanche wanted to be younger so that

Mitch would like her. She didn't want him to think that she was old and disgusting. She

thought that if she was young, she would have a better chance with Mitch. Her fantasy

was that she was young and that she would get Mitch that way. Mitch didnt care that

she was older. It was the reality of of everything else. The reality that she was sleeping

with other guys. She even slept with one of her students. Mitch didnt care about the

age. He told Blanche, I dont mind being older than I thought. But all the rest of it-
Christ! (Williams, Pg 117) Mitch really didnt mind that Blanche was a little older. Her

fantasy of being younger and getting Mitch failed. Even though Mitch really didnt care

about her age she lied about her past. The fantasy of her being younger didnt even

matter. The reality of her past had more important than her age. Blanche thought that

being younger was going to benefit her. The reality was that age really didnt matter in

the end.

Holdens fantasy was that he could keep kids from growing up. He thought that it

was better if they stayed young. They wouldnt have to worry about anything and they

would be innocent forever.The reality was that everyone grows up. Holden had this

fantasy that he could save all the kids from growing up. What I have to do I have to

catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff. (Salinger, Pg. 173)The cliff symbolized

adulthood. He fantasized that he would catch the kids from going over the cliff and save

them from grow up. He thought that he could save every kid from falling off that cliff.

Well he couldnt. He thinks that he would never grow up, that he would just have a job

catching kids in the field. That was not the reality of things. He eventually figured out

that everyone grows up. He realized that kids had to grow up you couldnt really stop

them. He figured this out when Phoebe was on the carousel. The thing with kids is if

they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it! (Salinger, Pg. 211) He

realized that his fantasy of stopping kids from growing up was not going to work. When
he saw Phoebe reaching for the rings he knew that he couldnt stop her from doing that.

When he realized that he knew that he couldnt stop kids from growing up either. The

thing with kids was that you cant stop them from doing what they want to do. Just like

the rings you couldnt stop them from grabbing it. At first Holden thought that he could

save all the kids from growing up, then he realized that you couldnt stop them from

growing or changing.

Jody always made fun of how Janie was getting old because he had the fantasy

that he was still young. The reality was that he was the one getting older. Jody didnt
want to believe that he was getting older. He made fun of Janie so he could feel better.

Janie asked him why he made fun of her. Yeah, Ahm nearly forty and youre already

fifty. How come you cant talk about dat sometimes instead of always pointin at me.

(Hurston, Pg. 79) Jody didn't like to admit that he was getting older. He was stuck in the

fantasy that he was still young and had power. He didnt like the reality that he was

getting older and that he was losing his power. Janie made him realize what was really

happening. When they were fighting Janie said this, When you pull down yo britches,

yo look lak de change uh life Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible

maleness. (Hurston, Pg. 79) Janie basically just said that he was getting old and that

you could tell just by looking at him. When Janie told him this he realized that he was no

longer young. Hes not powerful or strong anymore. Janie basically emasculated him.

He found out the reality in a hard way. He knew that he was getting old and he really

didnt need Janie to tell him that. Even though Jody knew that he was getting old he

couldnt admit it. He had to hear it from Janie that he was getting older.

In all three book the theme of fantasy vs. reality show how reality overcame

fantasy. The theme fantasy vs.reality really shown how most of the fantasies were

crushed by reality. In The Street Car Named Desire Blanches fantasy of being with

Shep and Mitch was crushed because first of all Shep wasnt even real and she lied to

Mitch. Then she pretended to be in the higher class by wearing high class clothing.
When really she was poor and almost homeless. She also pretended to be younger so

that Mitch would like her. Mitch didnt really care about her age though he did care that

she lied. Similarly in The Catcher in the Rye Holden had fantasy about Jane but in

reality he never had the courage to ask her out or call her. He also thought about

escaping society. He thought that he could just run away from his high class life. When

in reality he doesnt really have the money to do it anyway. He also thought that he

could stop the kids from growing up. His fantasy was to keep them innocent but he

realised that he couldnt keep them from everything it's impossible. In The Eyes Were
Watching God Janie had fantasies about what marriage was like. She thought it was

filled with love and that they would have both benefited from it when in reality her

marriages were nothing like that. They were not filled with loved and she was the one

that did not benefit from it. Then Jody had fantasies about how much better he was in a

higher class. When in reality he should have been a better mayor and helped the other

townspeople. Jody also had another fantasy about about staying young. He wanted to

stay young and have power. When in reality he was getting old and that he was losing

his power. He really need Janie to say that too. Many times my fantasies never came

true either.That's maybe why they are called fantasies. I think fantasy really helped

show what they wanted. Even though they couldn't have it.