Peeking Behind Cold-Blooded Masks, Streetcar Called Desire, and Fences In life, we all try to project some kind of personality onto others. We have a mask that we wear in different situations, but when times get tough, we eventually discard our masks and become our true selves. We don't live behind our masks until the tragic end, like the characters in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, and August Wilson's Fences. The three characters, Perry Smith, Blanche DuBois and Troy Maxson, wore masks until their bitter ending, always trying to deceive everyone else. When times got tough, they had to face themselves and couldn't stand the sight. The characters of Blanche DuBois (Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire), Troy Maxson (Wilson's Fences), and Perry Smith (Capote's In Cold Blood), all had an image they hoped to project. They wanted everyone else to see them a certain way. Each character had their own delusions about who they were and what they wanted to project onto others. The three hide behind masks in an attempt to be confident and flawless. For example, in the case of Blanche DuBois we are introduced to a woman who portrays herself as a Southern belle, a woman who is supposed to be kind. It doesn't take long before the public recognizes DuBois for who he truly is. However, she never gives up or admits what the audience can see in her. DuBois is drawn to a life of illusion. She tells people that she is a teacher on leave, when in reality she lost her job for being involved in a relationship with a much younger man (Harris 444). Laurie Lanzen Harris states: She presents herself as an innocent, virginal young woman.......center of paper......84.Nance, William L. "The Worlds of Truman Capote." Contemporary Literary Criticism 13 (1970): 137-138.Shafer, Yvonne. “Breaking Barriers: August Wilson,” in Scene Difference: Cultural Pluralism in American Theater and Drama. Contemporary Literary Criticism 118 (1999): 405-406. Shannon, Sandra G. “The Good Christian Has Come and Gone: The Changing Role of Christianity in August WilsonPlays,” in MELUS. Contemporary Literary Criticism 118 (1999): 382-384. Vogel, Dan. "The Mask of Oedipus Tyranos," in The Three Masks of American Tragedy. Contemporary Literary Criticism 5 (1976): 504-505. Works consulted Capote, Truman. In cold blood. New York: The New American Library, 1940.Williams, Tennessee. A tram called Desiderio. New York: New Directories, 1947. Wilson, August. Fences. New York: Plume, 1985.