Mississippi would date her. With her reputation tattered she sought solace in the arms of a 17-year-old student of hers, which lead to her dismissal. Stanley discovers this dark secret and tells Mitch, effectively ending the relationship that he and Blanche were enjoying. To further exacerbate the tension in their relationship, Stanley's gift to Blanche on her birthday is a ticket back to Laurel, the town she had fled.
             From then on, Blanche's grasp of reality slowly collapses. She begins hallucinating, and it is at the end of the play that Stella, with great regret, has Blanche committed to a mental institution.
             Music's Role in A Streetcar Named Desire
             In A Streetcar Named Desire, much like in many other plays, music plays a vital role in helping to create a certain mood in a scene. But in Streetcar, it often also serves as a recurring theme, helping to illustrate Blanche DuBois' mood or telling the audience when something significant happens. Indeed, whether it is the Blue Piano that serves as the background music for most of the play or the "rapid, feverish polka tune, the Varsouviana," music plays a vital role in the play: musically portraying Blanche's state of mind.
             When the play first begins, the stage direction indicates that the "Blue Piano" is heard. As the first scene progresses, the music remains the same, until the end of the scene, when Stanley comes home. Here the stage direction states, "The music of the polka rises up." This piano is an instrument used in Blues, as the name would suggest, which is quite the melancholy style of music, rarely going into jovial melodies, and therefore works well in musically describing Blanche's general mood during the play. The music is sad, depressing, lamenting, much like Blanche is about her life on Belle Reve, the family's plantation in Laurel, Mississippi, her love life, and life in general.
             Toward the end of the first scene a polka can be heard gaining strength....