Blanche associates the polka with her young husband’s suicide. Blanche and her husband were dancing the polka when she lashed out at him for his homosexual behavior, and he left the dance floor and shot himself. The music plays when Blanche is reminded of her husband in specific or when she is particularly disturbed by the past in general. The polka continues until some event in the real world distracts her or until a gunshot goes off in her memory. Although the polka plays in Blanche’s mind, and she is the only character onstage who hears the tune, the audience also hears the polka when she hears it.