Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
In 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' Williams presents the audience with w world
of mendacity. Every fibre of the character's being is based on a
spectrum of deceit, from self-deception, to exploitation to social
lies. The characters' names themselves conceal the irony and deceit,
for example Brick, the leading man. The name Brick itself suggests a
tough, strong man, but Brick's character suggests a weak, pathetic man
who tries hard to forget his past by indulging in a life of alcohol.
Brick is mentally insecure, he lies to himself and those around him,
in the first scene he pretends not to hear his wife, 'did you say
something, Maggie?' The other members of the household refer to Brick
as the brick house that sheltered the 'three little pigs', the strong
structure that cannot be easily blown down. The 'no-neck monsters',
Mae and Goopers children are the pigs, sheltered by the security of
Brick. In the play lying is used to 'protect' other people's feelings
because 'the truth hurts'. A web of lies covers the truth about the
state of Big Daddy's health. This is to 'protect' Big Daddy and his
wife from the painful reality, 'Nothin' a-tall's wrong with him but'
'a spastic colon'. Lies are used to disguise the characters real
feelings, they live a lie putting on 'jewelled sandals' and 'cream
silk underwear' to stop their feelings being shown. Gooper and Mae are
partners in games of lies and deceit, working together to get their
wishes, the inheritance from Big Daddy. The name Big Daddy suggests a
physically imposing man with a big ego and Big Mama suggests a
frightening woman, head of the family, a matriarch. Their names
suggest how they would like others to see them but they do not...
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She builds herself up by putting Maggie down, by the end her comments
have worn thin and she is ignored when she questions Maggie's
'pregnancy', Big Mama only believes what she wants to hear. It is this
pressure to fit in to the family that is the source of most of the
lies in the play; the audience is constantly left guessing the future,
the family's lives beyond the death of 'the boss', Big Daddy. Williams
leaves the end of the play open to this guessing, will Maggie get
pregnant by Brick? The real question though is will Brick be able to
face up to the responsibility of replacing Big Daddy and will the
uncovered lies mean a truthful future for the family? I think that
this is an interesting way to leave the play as it does not end
'happily ever after' but there is finally hope for the future for
Maggie and Brick now they have faced up to the truth.
When people try to adjust in a group that they do not belong to and...
author Alexander Robbins states: “From the age of five children increasingly exclude peers who don’t conform to group norms. Children learn this quickly. A popular Indiana eighth grader told me ‘I have to be the same as everybody else, or people won’t like me anymore’” (150). The human brain is wired such that children will end friendships with kids that they find different. Robbins finds this behavior to be undesirable saying that it is not only unappealing, but it is a cop-out. In agreement with Robbins, parents across the world, organizations, and teen movies tell society that conformity is bad and that children should not conform to the group, rather they should stand alone and be individuals. However, Solomon Asch’s study may have discovered why this is. He concluded that: “The investigations described in this series are concerned with the independence and lack of independence in the face of group pressure” (1). Asch determines that in the face of pressure people are more apt to conform.
Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911. He was the second child of Edwina and Cornelius Coffin Williams. His father was a shoe salesman who spent most of his time away from home. Edwina was a “southern belle” she was snobbish and her behavior was neurotic. As a child, Williams suffered from diphtheria which almost ended his life. Williams attended Soldan High School, a setting he referred to in The Glass Menagerie. Later, he attended University City High School. He then attended the University of Missouri. (Tennessee)
Tennessee Williams is one of the best play writers in American history. Tennessee Williams's life experiences has been used as subject matter for his dramas. Tennessee Williams uses his experiences and express them through plays. His life experiences are used over and over again in the creation of his dramas.
Tom, in which she tells him how to eat his food. Later she tells him
fact that Jim did im fact turn out to be engaged. I guess that I
because of the guilt they have. “ Still another cause of social isolation is this: Given that a new
The lacking of a positive male role model can be very troublesome for any family; especially during the mid-thirties. Prior to the Second World War, women did not have significant roles in the workforce and depended on their husbands or fathers to provide for them financially. There were limited government assistance programs during the era of The Great Depression, and it was up to the families to provide for themselves. The absence of Mr. Wingfield placed enormous strains on the physical as well as mental wellbeing of his family. The effects the abandonment of their father had on the Wingfield family from Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie are undeniable.
“Conformity is a form of social influence that involves a change in behavior or belief so that one can fit in with a certain group” (McLeod). Such a change is a response to imagined (which involves the pressure of expectations or social norms) or real (which involves the presence of others) group pressure. Another definition of conformity can be “yielding to group pressures”. Group pressure can take many forms, for example persuasion, teasing, bullying, criticism etc. Conformity is also referred to as group pressure or majority influence. The term conformity is mostly used to show an agreement to the position of the majority, and this is brought about by either by the desire to be liked or to fit in, or just to match a social role. The aim of this paper is to argue that conformity is among people because they always live in groups-work groups, family, political, religious and social groups. At the same instance, they are adjusted to obey authority. A conformist mentality makes it easy for people to be influenced by others.
The origins of the pressure to conform come from the people you surround yourself from. The individuals in my house are extremely involved in the concept of “fitting in with the crowd.” They endeavor to be accepted by their peers and regularly assure themselves they are. People also feel compressing pressure from modern society. Both genders are expected to behave a certain way and are looked down upon if they choose to innovate.
"Parents and teachers often miss children's nascent understanding of group dynamics, as well as kids' willingness to buck to the pressure," Killen explains. Children begin to figure out the costs and consequences of resisting peer group pressure early. By adolescence, they find it only gets more complicated."
In every society, there is conformity and nonconformity, although we may not notice it. Conformity is when someone is doing the same thing as others because they do not want to be the only one doing differently. Example, if there was a whole class raising their hands would you want to be the only one with your hand down, no so you would raise it with the rest of the class to not look like you don't know anything. This is called social pressures it when a large group is doing something and you're the only one not then you want to be doing whatever that large group is doing.
“All I ask of that woman is that she leave me alone. But she can’t admit to herself that she makes me sick,” (II.47). This is a quote spoken by Big Daddy concerning his wife, Big Mama. Throughout the play, women become victim to unfair and misogynistic treatment from their husbands. This is mainly evident in Big Mama, Maggie and Mae’s respective relationships. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof displays this casual misogyny in its accurate depiction of how women were treated in that era, through the roles of the female characters and their relationships, as well as the treatment of the female characters.
“I don 't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don 't tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth. And it that 's sinful, then let me be damned for it!” (Goodread, quotes). This quote comes directly from one of Tennessee William’s most famous novel, A Street Car Named Desire representing William’s way of life. Tennessee Williams is the pen name for Thomas Lanier Williams, born March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. He had a troubling boyhood; His father worked as a traveling salesman which required for him to be constant traveling around the world. Because of this,
Amanda Wingfield in the play, The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams, was portrayed as a distraught southern belle trying to control the lives of her children. In The Glass Menagerie Amanda is the matriarch of her small family who appears at first to be a woman who cared about her children’s futures- that is before she becomes so overbearing that she started to hinder her children’s future. Amanda was a single mother who could never grasp reality. The Glass Menagerie was a memory play that told of a family trapped in destructive patterns. After being abandoned by her husband sixteen years prior, Amanda became trapped between two completely different worlds; worlds of illusion and reality. It seemed like when the world became too harsh or hard for Amanda, she would just simply close her eyes and pretend like nothing was wrong. When the real world became to overbearing for Amanda, she would recall the days of her youth and how great they were. This was simply just a way for Amanda to stay optimistic and stay out of reality. Amanda made the relationship between her and her children very difficult because she never tried to understand her children’s different personalities. Amanda was stuck on trying to mold her children’s lives the way she wanted them, rather than letting her children choose and lead their own lives. Amanda’s way of helping the children did not let her connect with them the way that each of them needed. Due to her one minded opinion, she didn’t see that Laura was a shy girl with low self esteem and needed a mother to show her how to act around the public and that Tom just simply needed to switch jobs and have someone to talk to. Tom eventually left the house because he realized his weak relati...