Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

I found the character of Brick to be an interesting one. He seemed to lack emotion as it likely is drowned in his sorrows and adoration of alcohol. His own wife, Margaret (Maggie), cannot even bring laughter or joy into his life, and this causes many to believe that he is homosexual; "as he misses his true love Skipper". Brick seems to be the shell of a man as he admits that it does not matter if he lives or dies, as long as he has liquor left in the bottle, that is all that matters. He is obviously carrying pain, which may possibly be resolved if he will face his problems rather than choose to avoid them.

I found one of the play’s themes to be the pain of avoiding problems. As Brick is clearly unhappy with his life, early on, we see comments of his emotions. Maggie says, “you have that rare sort of charm that usually only happens in very old or hopelessly sick people, the charm of the defeated. – You look so cool, so cool, so enviably cool.” (p. 1059). This is where the audience can infer that Brick has not bee himself as of late. He has not been showing emotion as people often do when they are insecure in who they are or have ultimately given up. In Brick's current state, we can gather that he is clearly facing an internal conflict, in which he has been avoiding/self-medicating with alcohol. This pain he clings to has spread to his marriage as his beautiful wife is left feeling insecure and rejected.

I could not help but the notice the similarities between Brick and Big Daddy; neither are happily married, but the largest similarity is that both reveal each other’s secrets to one another. Big Daddy ultimately finds out that Skipper made a drunken confession to Brick, and that Brick ultimately “—dug the grave of your friend and kicked him in it!” (p. 1083). Big Daddy believes that Brick feels disgusted with himself for failing to face the truth with Skipper. As Brick feels vulnerable, he lashes out and questions Big Daddy asking why he is celebrating a birthday that is likely to be his last. Big Daddy discovers that people have been lying to him, and his days are coming to an end. As we see a snapshot into a long conversation, we understand how Big Daddy and Brick could have danced around these types of conversations in the past, as it is a lot easier to avoid these hard truths. 

I think there is a lot to learn from this play. Williams welcomed the audience to witness an unhealthy marriage between Maggie and Brick, which ultimately left viewers feeling hopeless as the final lines have Maggie professing her love for Brick, to which he replies, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that was true?”. We also see many lines where Brick is blatantly tuning out Maggie as she makes many attempts to converse with him, as if to passive-aggressively tell her that he is not interested in her whatsoever. In one exchange, Maggie speaks 26 lines of dialogue to which Brick replies, “Did you say something, Maggie?” This is not the only exchange where Brick responds in such a way. I believe that these types of conversations should leave the audience frustrated and unsettled. Which is why, I think that this play can help inspire couples to truly listen to one another, and empower them to be intentional about making sure each other’s emotional and physical needs are met to avoid unhealthy marriages/relationships.