Cat on a Hot Tin Roof--- 9/12/10

The last couple of class sessions we have been talking about the Tennessee Williams play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. For those who not read it (and everyone should, it’s an amazing piece of work) the play tells the story of a wealthy Mississippi family. The events are untold through the course of one day. During this day, issues of mortality, marriage, addiction, birth right and homosexuality are addressed with searing passion. The Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, written in 1955, was progressive for its time and still resonates with its contemporary audience

Big Daddy is the patriarch of the Pollitt family. He is a man who believes in hard work and is proud of the immense fortune he has made for himself. He is every bit the stereotype of a Southern plantation owner, but in many ways he much different than what you would expect. In my opinion Big Daddy is the most important character in the entire play. Throughout the play every character makes an attempt to understand Brick. Every character has their opinion about both Brick‘s alcoholism and his sexuality. Maggie, Brick’s wife, and Big Mama, his mother, try throughout the play to get answers from Brick, but they are never able to get more of a few words from him. Brick’s older Gooper and his wife Mae make up their own assumptions about Brick from conversations overheard through their shared walls. But it is Big Daddy who gets Brick to open up and speak truthfully about his relationship with Skipper and the source of his drinking problem. Big Daddy is persistent with Brick, just as the others are, but he relates to Brick’s “disgust with mendacity”. Big Daddy admits to hating his wife, his eldest son and his wife and kids. He admits that every day he lives a lie because “you’ve got to live with it, there’s nothing else to live with except mendacity…” (Williams 81). Hearing Big Daddy’s own admonition of hatred for his family seems to cause Brick to also release his own secrets and regrets. It is for this that I believe Big Daddy to be the most important character in the play. This strong wealthy, plantation owning Southern man was able break down his son’s defenses and extract more of the truth than any other character was able to. This symbolizes the type of man that I expect Big Daddy has been his entire life. Unafraid of obstacles, ready and willing to tackle them head first even if they are his own son‘s troubled life. So it seems understandable that Big Daddy is the only person Brick talks to about Skipper. Big Daddy seems invincible and strong, having returned from the doctor with what seems a clean bill of health, and the only one capable of carrying the burden of Brick’s secret. Any other character would have been too shocked to cope properly. Big Mama would have faint or sob, and Maggie would whine and baby Brick. But Brick is not looking for sympathy from anyone. He has too much pride for that, and so he tells Big Daddy. Who only listens as a friend and reassures his son. I was shocked by the reaction Big Daddy has to Brick when he talks about his relationship with Skipper. As I said before, Big Daddy is in many ways a stereotypical Southern farmer, but he is also incredibly atypical. I assumed that as a Southerner he would have little tolerance for a possibly gay son. But he does not get angry or shout at his son; instead he asks questions and delves even further into the truth. Most importantly Big Daddy does not allow Brick to “pass the buck” any longer. Big Daddy lays the truth out to Brick, “…We have tracked down the lie with which you’re disgusted and which you are drinking to kill your disgust with, Brick. You have been passing the buck. This disgust with mendacity is disgust with yourself.” (Williams 92).