Gay drunk or just troubled? (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Tennessee Williams)

Member Name: fweeky-kitty

Product:	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Tennessee Williams
Date:	15/06/01 (1462 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great to read, Dramatic, Alternative ending in penguin edition

Disadvantages: requires attention whilst reading to pick up on all the hinted and previous points

There's nothing more determined than a cat on a hot tin roof.
This is one of my favourite books, with so many issues looked as such as 'avarice avarice greed greed', family rejection, cancer sexuality and the breakdown of marriage.

The plot focuses around Brick, the youngest son of a rich plantation owner called Big Daddy, as he faces up to his past and pushes his wife, Maggie the cat, away.

Added to the confusion are the hints (never explicitly said) that brick is gay as his best friend was gay and Brick becomes an alcoholic as he watched Skipper slip away to drugs and alcohol - the path Brick himself seems to be following.

The subplot is also the cancer of Big Daddy and the apparent similar situation of Brick’s parents as his father pushes his wife away as well, paralleling Bricks situation - with a wife he cannot stand and a son he never wanted.

This son is bricks older brother Gooper, who with his obnoxious wife Mae tries to stop Brick inheriting the plantation so they can have it by pointing out that Brick is an alcoholic and won't touch his wife. This appears to be jealousy, as Big daddy never liked Gooper because it is suggested that he was an accident and was what forced Big Daddy to marry Big Mama.

The final heated scene is one of the best pieces I have ever read. This is where it all comes out. For the first time Brick acknowledges his wife and defends her, backing her up when she falsely claims to be pregnant (her final gift to the dying Big Daddy).

The ending is both happy and sad in my opinion as Brick asks 'how are you going to conceive a child by a man in love with his liquor?' to which Maggie throws his alcohol over the landing saying 'I'll not let the servants drive him to town to get any more until he has satisfied my needs' as brick has a broken leg from trying to recapture his college days whilst drunk.

But for me the whole play is enca
psulated by this quote:
Maggie : I love you
Brick : Wouldn't it be funny if that were true

Summary: