The cat on a hot tin roof
Introduction
The cat on a hot tin roof is a play written by Tennessee Williams and was published in 1955. It is one of William’s best works since it won The Pulitzer Prize for drama in the year 1955. The play is about one wealthy Southern family where the family members have relationship issues just like any wealthy family. The play focused on a one-day event, the birthday of Big Daddy, the father who had two married sons and from the conversation that evening, it was clear that the family was in a crisis. This discussion focuses on discussing the themes and the literary stylistic devices used by the author of this play.
The first theme that is pronounced in this play is deception. Big Daddy family members are living a life of deception. First, the whole family lies to big Daddy about his wealth. The physicians had confirmed that Big Daddy had cancer, but Big Mama and the sons have not revealed to the Oldman that he has cancer. They deceived him that it is just a strange disease and that the doctors are trying to determine the kind of illness he was suffering from. Brick also helps to bring out the theme of deception by expressing his disgust with the “lies and liars” he often sees. In other words, Bricks is disgusted with the people surrounding him, the family members included, for their deceptive behaviors. After making this statement, his father, Big Daddy, states that Brick disgust is not for people around him, but the disgust is for himself for rejecting Skipper his find before he committed suicide.
Maggie Brick’s wife is also living a deceptive life since she came from a low-income family and schemed to get married to a wealthy family. Now she is suffering from a child’s lack, and his husband, Brick, is not interested in her anymore. She lived deceptive life in that she was hoping that things would change in the future, and his husband would stand making love to her. Maggie lies that she was not having children because his husband no longer engages her in intimacy. Moreover, Maggie lies to Big Daddy and Big mama that she was pregnant; she did this to make them happy to get some inheritance through his husband.
The second theme that manifests in this play is greed. One character that displayed greed well as Gooper, the elder son f Big Daddy. When Gooper realized that his father Big Daddy faced imminent death due to the advanced cancer stage, he started planning o how he would get a share of his father’s estate. Gooper’s character shows outright greed. Instead of comforting his father and ensuring that his father gets the right medication for him to live longer, Gooper’s mind was on the wealth the father was going to leave behind when he dies. He wanted to get a share of his father’s wealth so that he could enjoy with his wife and many kids. Magie, the wife to Brick, strived to marry to a son from a wealthy family. Maggie’s family was poor, but she managed to convince Brick to marry her to enjoy Big Daddy’s family wealth, which is greed.
Frustration and despair is another theme that is evident in this play. Despite the family being wealthy., the family members are frustrated and n despair in one way or another. Starting with Big Daddy himself, he was frustrated and is in despair because he was suffering from a strange disease that threatens his life. Big Daddy was celebrating his 65th birthday, meaning that he was still energetic and had many more years to live, but the disease seems to be a significant threat. Big Daddy fears and is frustrated that he might die and live all the wealthy. Big Mama also shares her husband’s frustrations, and she is in fear that her husband would die soon and leave her.
On the other hand, Brick is desperate for being impotent and, thus, lacks kids like his brother Gooper who has five kids. Brick’s inability to impregnate his wife Maggie causes his frustrations and resorts to heavy drinking to evade life’s realities. On the other hand, Maggie desperately needs a child so she can have a share of the family’s wealth.
When writing this play, Tennessee William employed various literary stylistic devices. One of the notable literary devices that the author used is symbolism. This is the use of symbols to represents things. The name “Big Daddy and Big Mama’ has symbolic meanings. The author chose to use the words to refer to Mr. Pollitt and his wife. Mr. Pollitt or Big Daddy was a wealthy man; hence the word big refers to him as a big man with so much wealthy. Many people in the social circle usually refer to wealthy people as big.
The author refers to Gooper’s five children as brood. Under normal circumstances, we know that a brood is the many chicks hatched by a hen. Using the word brood symbolizes the many children or offspring that Gooper and his wife have given birth to. In other words, the author implies that Gooper sired many children tan the average family could have, and in fact, his wife was again pregnant for the sixth baby.
Imagery is the second literary device that the author of this play use. Imagery is language sed by artists to create an image in the audience’s mind or a reader. The title itself, “the cat on the hot tin roof” is imagery on its own. This title refers to Maggie one of the main characters in this play. The cat refers to a particular fantasy of feminine desire. Maggie had a fantasy of living luxurious life if she married in a wealth family. Indeed, she strived and get brick, who was from a wealthy family and married to him.
After marrying, Maggie now realizes that her sexual desires and luxurious life she was fantasizing about were not coming forth since her husband Brick could not bear children at the same time V-[Brick did not want her. Just like a cat that strived to climb on a roof and found that the roof tin is quite hot to handle, so is Maggie. She entered the marriage but not she is feeling bitter for her decisions and desires. The cat desires to come down from the hot roof, but it is hard to do so. Maggie to find hared to come out of her situation In Big Daddy’s family. Imagery is also seen when the author refers to Mae Gooper’s wife as a “monstrous fertile” wife. These words live an image of a big woman with many kids, which refers to the pregnant Mae and his five rowdy kids.