Blanche's emphasis that she can't be alone suggests that she is at a point of desperation at the opening of the play. She has absolutely no place to go and no one to turn to or else she would not be here in these surroundings. Her explanation of how Belle Reve was lost and her recounting her frequent encounters with death serve in some ways to account for Blanche's present neurotic state.
The reader should be especially aware of Williams' description of Stanley. "Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements." This is the opposite of the delicate and ethereal Blanche. Furthermore, the "center of his life has been pleasure with women." He is the "emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer." He takes pride in everything that is his. Thus part of the later conflict is that Blanche can never in any sense of the word be his. She lives in his house, eats his food, drinks his liquor, criticizes his life, and so forth, but she is never his. Blanche's refusal will later help us understand the reasons for the brutal rape.
Essentially, the play can be read as a series of encounters between the Kowalski world and the Blanche DuBois world. Each of these encounters will intensify with each subsequent meeting. The first encounter occurs at the end of Scene 1. The overly sensitive Blanche must introduce herself to Stanley, who immediately offers her a drink after he notices that the bottle has been touched. He takes off his shirt and makes a shady remark to Stella, who is in the bathroom. He then asks Blanche some pointed questions which end with an inquiry about her earlier marriage. By the end of the first encounter, Blanche is feeling sick. Thus, Stanley's rough, common, brutal questions end by hitting on the most sensitive aspect of Blanche's past life — her marriage with the young boy. Stanley's animalism almost destroys Blanche's sensibilities even in this first meeting. Thus the conflict is between the oversensitive aristocratic world of Blanche and the brutal, realistic, present-day world represented by Stanley. But as an afternote, it should be added that Stanley is the type of person who likes his "cards on the table." He doesn't go in for subtleties and deception; thus, had Blanche been honest about his liquor, perhaps they could have gotten off to a better start.
