Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1153arrested development. Brick is in a “state of spiritual
disrepair” rooted in his inability to accept that his
youth is over. He wears a cast and moves around on
crutches because he recently tried and failed to jump
high hurdles at the local high school. Alcohol com-
pounds his problems. The death of his friend Skip-
per turns Brick to alcohol and ends his professional
sports career. Incidentally, self-destruction is another
example of Aristotelian pride. Finally, Brick’s man-
hood is in question as rumors swirl about his
relationship with Skipper. Many suspect the bond
between the two was a homosexual one, which Brick
denies with such vehemence that his reaction only
deepens the suspicion. Such allegations challenge
deep-rooted southern ideals about manhood that
Brick is ill-equipped to confront, which is why he
turns to alcohol.
Whereas Big Daddy’s, Gooper’s, and Brick’s
pride cause the audience to question their charac-
ter, Maggie’s pride is admirable. Maggie is Brick’s
wife, a woman of unique beauty and sex appeal
who has made her way out of poverty and into the
good graces of Big Daddy. Like Gooper, Maggie is
determined to establish her place in the family. In
some instances, she has failed. She has been unable
to overcome her lack of breeding in the eyes of some
in the family, but more important, she and Brick are
childless, mostly due to Brick’s refusal to sleep with
her anymore, punishment for Maggie’s miscalcula-
tion that a one-night stand with Skipper would
somehow convince her husband of her love for him.
Despite these barriers, however, Maggie’s belief in
her ability to overcome any obstacle, however daunt-
ing, wins her the audience’s admiration. Pride keeps
her from quitting.
The play has two endings, one preferred by the
playwright and one written specifically to fulfill
the desires of the original Broadway director, Elia
Kazan, who felt certain aspects of the play’s original
third act would not sit well with audiences. In pub-
lished form, however, both versions exist, and the
playwright challenges the audience to decide which
is more acceptable. When we examine the theme
of pride, Maggie essentially comes out on top. In
the Broadway version, she is able to convince Brick
to quit drinking and assume his role as head of the
family, a family that will soon include a child of their
own. In the alternate ending, Maggie essentially
wears Brick down, and through sheer force of will
she conceives a child with him because he has not
overcome his demons and yet has lost the energy to
fend off his wife. This alternate ending is profoundly
troubling; after all, it promises a child will enter the
world to parents at war with each other. However,
both endings illustrate Maggie’s strong will, built on
pride, and show the world will bend to her desires,
for good or ill.
Chris BellStaGeS oF LIFe in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Generational conflicts form the foundation of Ten-
nessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which
earned the playwright his second Pulitzer Prize in- As Big Daddy attempts to set his affairs in
order amid the news of his terminal cancer, his son
Brick seems intent on drinking himself to death,
unable to cope with the “mendacity” he sees as the
defining characteristic of the adult world.
Brick’s central problem is his inability to accept
adult responsibilities. A former football player who
starred in college, Brick, along with his friend and
collegiate teammate Skipper, founded a professional
league in order to keep the two on the field together.
Once he hangs up his cleats, Brick cannot adapt
to life off the field. Brick’s arrested development
is a common theme for Williams. Furthermore,
the faded athlete is a common figure in American
mythology, but Williams is careful to craft a com-
plicated figure in Brick, who is more than a spoiled
jock. First of all, it is not entirely Brick’s fault that
he finds himself unable to bid farewell to his youth,
a time when he was treated as a hero because of his
athletic feats. The situation is made more compli-
cated by the suspicion that Brick and Skipper had
a homosexual relationship, a serious taboo within
the deep southern confines of the play. Brick is so
vehement in his denial that the suspicions of most
are only increased. As his father’s death nears, Brick’s
family pressures him to shape up and prepare to
assume responsibility of the grand plantation Big
Daddy has built from the ground up.
However, Brick faces a seemingly insurmount-
able obstacle: He finds his wife, Maggie, disgusting.
The root of Brick’s disgust is his discovery, before