Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1955

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Summary

Background

Act Summaries & Analyses

Act I

Act II

Act III

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

Gender Roles and Relationships

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the play’s treatment of alcohol addiction and anti-gay bias.

Throughout Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, characters adhere and subvert traditional gender roles. Men and women are expected to behave in specific ways to construct the ideal American family. However, as the play progresses, adherence to gender roles is revealed to be an illusion, a symptom of the “mendacity” of society. Characters like Brick and Maggie appear to conform to gender stereotypes, but oftentimes obscure complex realities. Meanwhile, characters who unquestioningly embrace gender stereotypes are framed as “grotesque” or “ugly,” suggesting their complicity in deception.

As two of the play’s most complex characters, Brick and Maggie illustrate the illusion and deception in portraying traditional gender roles. From the outside, Brick and Maggie are a perfect couple: Brick is a classically handsome all-American man, a former football star, while Maggie is likewise beautiful, spending Act I in her slip, primping and preparing for Big Daddy’s birthday party. However, upon closer inspection, Brick is far from unshakable, and Maggie is not delicate. Brick is “broken,” literally and metaphorically: He cannot move on his broken ankle without his literal crutch, and cannot function without the metaphorical crutch of alcohol. He has been destroyed by Skipper’s death, whether out of repressed desire or guilt in rejecting his friend. In both cases, the root of Brick’s downfall lies in his intense fear of being seen as feminine, something other than a heterosexual man. The obligation to uphold traditional gender norms thus leaves him a shell of his former self.

As Brick slips into alcoholism, Maggie takes on a more masculine role. She takes care of Brick and schemes to ensure their place in Big Daddy’s will. However, she herself feels she is made less feminine, “monstrous” even, by Brick’s indifference and their childlessness. To “correct” this failure, Maggie resorts to exaggerated, flirtatious sensuality to assert her femininity. In the end, she embraces her newfound strength and pushes Brick to have a baby, to further the illusion of a perfect family. Gooper and Mae have children, but their commitment to gender roles and “horde” are framed as “monstrous.” Similarly, Big Mama has unquestioningly embraced the role of wife and mother—even though she is unloved by her husband and sons—and is thus framed as grotesque in her complicity in traditional gender norms. While largeness is not inherently grotesque, the play uses Big Mama’s body and humor to emphasize the loss of self to wifehood. Regardless of her authenticity, other characters view her with amusement, irritation, or embarrassment.

Family Dysfunction and Miscommunication

Much of the Pollitts’ dysfunction stems from their inability to communicate. Throughout the play, dialogue is characterized by interruptions and lies. This breakdown in communication illustrates the isolation and loneliness that come with personal agendas. With Big Daddy’s inheritance on the line, the characters (especially Brick and Maggie) suffer from a lack of privacy: There is spying and eavesdropping as characters (Maggie, Gooper, and Mae) scheme to secure their place. However, despite this lack of privacy, each character is virtually alone. Even when speaking to one another, they often end up talking to themselves. In Act I, Maggie talks to a detached Brick, making her dialogue a monologue. This lack of communication speaks to the larger dysfunction in their relationship, their inability to address Brick’s relationship with Skipper.

The play’s constant interruptions dramatize characters’ breakdown in communication. While the main characters converse, other characters continually enter Brick and Maggie’s room. The Pollitts’ phone rings repeatedly, and distractions sound from offstage. The main characters also frequently attempt to communicate without words: Gooper and Mae give each other looks or pokes, often to express anxiety or unclear sentiments. Throughout the play, characters sometimes do things that the stage directions frame as inexplicable, indicating how words fail them in their desperate attempts to express themselves.

In Act II, Big Daddy and Brick explicitly address their communication difficulties. This conversation is the only scene in which one character makes a genuine effort to understand another: Big Daddy notes he and Brick talk “around things for some rotten reason” (2129) and insists they be “honest” with each other. They never lie to each other, but Brick points out they have “never talked to each other” (2136). To the Pollitts, communication and lying go hand in hand. This is confirmed in Big Daddy and Brick’s conversation, as they only achieve communication upon revealing painful truths, illustrating how communication is usually impossible because of all that is left unsaid. In keeping to personal agendas, characters are reluctant to share their true feelings and thoughts.

Obscuring Reality Through Deception

Deception is central to the play, as characters use lies to disguise, hide, and repress what is considered unacceptable. In a society that idolizes masculinity and “life everlasting” (887), the “unacceptable” turns out to be an attraction to members of the same sex and death. Every character suffers from their own delusion, lying to themselves as much as they lie to one another. The play revolves around the central lie of Big Daddy’s cancer. Maggie insists this lie is necessary, telling Brick that people can’t face death without being fooled and fooling themselves. This lie spawns other deceptions, including Big Daddy’s birthday party and Gooper and Mae’s feigned affection, as they hope to become the sole inheritors of the estate. Even Big Daddy maintains the lie, carefully hiding his weakness despite the persistent pain in his stomach. The only character who is truly convinced by the show is Big Mama, who is gullible.

The play’s other central lie is the nature of Brick’s relationship with his deceased friend Skipper. Brick lies to himself about the depth of their friendship, using alcohol to escape his feelings. In contrast to other relationships, which all function on lies to keep up appearances, he calls their friendship the “one great good true thing in his life” (1011). The loss of Skipper, combined with the suggestion of romantic desire between them, is more than Brick can bear. He drinks out of disgust for the mendacity that pressured him to abandon his friend and his inability to reject traditional gender norms.

While Big Mama is authentic in her love for Big Daddy, Maggie is most authentic in her intent to become the wife of a wealthy plantation owner. However, she ultimately lies to get her way, to reject her husband’s indifference and their childlessness. Her final lie about pregnancy further complicates the play’s relationship between illusion and reality. The baby, whether real or not, is another illusion to make Brick and Maggie look responsible. The illusion will do nothing to change their relationship, but Maggie would rather live a socially acceptable lie than admit the reality of a failed marriage.