CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

Welcome,

I recently read Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and watched Brook's film adaptation starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman.  This is a great play and a great motion picture. The play has many cracks that we could peer into about love, gender roles, and culture, but I would like to take a peek into gender roles.

The character that pulled my attention and left me wondering what Williams was saying about gender roles was Brick. He was by far the saddest cat stuck on the roof. He may have been the quietest,but he suffered the most. In his apathetic answers and his refills of whiskey, he gives us a unique peek into the burden of masculinity. He is asked( p. 108) why he drinks and his answer is "mendacity", referring to lying and liars.

What if one of the things he's tired of lying about is not his sexual preference, but his masculinity? There are a lot of pressures put on men. A lot of roles that are not always spoken of, but are expected. Societal groups do not let men off easily in this city or in the South.  Men are responsible for taking care of their families, expected to get the next big promotion, "make a name for themselves",  they cannot show fear,  be good at sports, and fight for our country in war.  This was all before the feminist movement.

Now, men also need to be supportive of their wives, good listeners, understanding, compassionate, know how to cook & clean, change diapers, and be sensitive. It's no wonder our boys have trouble becoming "men". The pressure they must endure is exhaustive.

In this book, Brick was expected to be the best. He was the best looking and a football hero until he got sick and lost his best friend. This is one of the norms he's tired of: the mendacity of southern societal assumptions. He's tired of living up to this impossible person. So, he drinks until he hears "the click"; the click that helps him not think of all the things he cannot be.

 In Barker's "Cultural Studies: Theory & Practice" (our other text) he points out that, "Giddens argues that addictions -- as compulsive behavior -- are narcotic-like 'time-outs' that blunt the pain and anxiety of other needs or longings that cannot be directly controlled. Addiction is the 'other side' of the choice and responsibility that go with the autonomous development of a self-narrative (or identity). In circumstances in which traditional guidance (for example about what it is to be a man) has collapsed, these lifestyle decisions become a potentiality 'dread-full process of making oneself'". I wonder if Tennessee was grappling with some of these thoughts when he wrote Brick's character.

I leave you to think about the men in your lives. Your friends, boyfriends, husbands, dads, uncles, and cousins. What societal norms are we pressuring them into? What mendacity do they have to live with?





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