Blanche DuBois is a gift and a trap for student writers. She is vivid, contradictory, and easy to have opinions about. That is exactly why so many essays on her become a chronological retelling of her visit to New Orleans.

A character analysis should make a claim about who the character is or how she works in the play. The claim needs to be something a classmate could push back on. "Blanche is troubled" does not qualify, while "Blanche's storytelling is a strategy for controlling how others see her" does.

The trouble for graders is that plot summary can look like evidence. A student who recounts the loss of Belle Reve, the visit to Stella, and the fallout with Mitch may seem to be covering a lot of ground. Read closely, though, the paragraph often never says what any of it means.

One practical fix is to ask, paragraph by paragraph, whether the sentence would still be true if you removed the play. If a paragraph is only events, it is summary. If it explains why an event matters to the claim, it is analysis.

Separating Summary From Analysis

Give students language for the difference. Summary answers "what happened," while analysis answers "what does this show about her, and why does it matter to my argument." Post those two questions where students can see them during drafting.

• Claim: says something specific and debatable about Blanche's behavior or motives
• Selection: chooses moments that actually test the claim, not every major event
• Interpretation: explains what each moment reveals rather than restating it
• Complication: acknowledges a moment that seems to cut against the claim
• Conclusion: says what the analysis adds to our understanding of the play as a whole

Scoring Fairly When Opinions Differ

Students will disagree with each other, and sometimes with you, about whether Blanche deserves sympathy. Grade the quality of the argument rather than the conclusion. A well-supported case for a reading you personally dislike should still earn a high score.

Watch for essays that judge Blanche with modern language and skip the text. Comments like "she was toxic" are opinion, not analysis, and they usually mean the student has not looked closely at a specific scene. Push them toward the lines and stage directions that support their view.

Feedback That Changes the Next Draft

The most useful comment on a summary-heavy paragraph is a rewrite of one sentence. Show the student how a retelling sentence could become an interpreting sentence. One model rewrite teaches more than three general notes.

If you are working through a large stack, AI feedback can flag paragraphs that read as summary so you can check them first. That does not replace your reading, but it helps you triage. The student still gets a human explanation of what to fix.

Building the Habit Early

Short formative tasks before the full essay build the skill. A single paragraph on one scene, graded only on the summary-versus-analysis line, gives students quick practice. By the time the major essay arrives, they have already felt the difference.

Revisit the same skill with other characters. Analyzing Stella or Mitch uses the same muscle, and students often find it easier once they are not emotionally attached to Blanche. The rubric stays the same, and the results improve.