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Act One

-This play will take place entirely at Big Daddy’s large Mississippi plantation estate on the eve of his sixty-fifth birthday.

-Act one opens with Margaret complaining to her husband, Brick, about one of his brother’s (Gooper) children who threw food at her and soiled her outfit. Margaret refers to the children as “no-neck monsters” and they are openly hostile to her, suggesting that there is animus between the brothers and their respective families (17).  

-The narration describes Maggie’s manner of speech as highly performative, invoking a preacher (17).

-Maggie continues to complain about Gooper’s five children (18-19) and goes onto convey that she and Brick are viewed as entirely useless due to their having no children (19).

-It is Maggie’s belief that Gooper is conspiring to collect Big Daddy’s sizable estate for himself alone, leaving nothing for Brick but a meager allowance (20).

-‘Big Daddy’ is what everybody calls Brick and Gooper’s father. Big Daddy is dying of cancer (20), so his sons and their respective families are beginning to strategize in order to claim the biggest piece of the estate upon his passing.

-Maggie is certain that Big Daddy is dying of cancer, while the rest of the family appears to be in denial (20-21).

-Maggie thus far and throughout the play will be the only character who does not live in a state of deluded denial. She sees things as they are rather than how she wishes they might be. Maggie is pragmatic rather than idealistic.

-Brick, it will come to be revealed, is an alcoholic. He drinks non-stop throughout the play and is only satisfied when everything ‘clicks’. In other words, Brick reaches a state of inebriation wherein everything and everyone becomes tolerable, you might say.

-Maggie believes that Gooper has been alluding to admitting Brick to a rehabilitation facility. She believes the motivation, rather than Brick’s recovery from alcoholism, is to claim Big Daddy’s sizable estate for himself (21).

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-Brick is somewhat of a celebrity due to being a sports announcer, in addition to being the son of the wealthiest plantation owner in Mississippi. Brick has freshly broken his ankle during the previous evening because he was attempting to jump hurdles at his former high school while completely intoxicated. He is such a celebrity, in fact, that his accident was instantly reported in the local newspaper (22).

-While we have yet to learn much about any of the central characters, we can nonetheless begin to analyze Brick and Maggie (Margaret):

The name Brick suggests something that is strong and solid, a thing that is part of a formidable structure. Yet, what we see in Brick is a man who cannot stand on his own, requiring the crutch of alcohol—it is thus no coincidence that his recent injury has caused him to be physically in need of crutches. Further, we see in Brick a man who is trying to relive his glory days. Brick, a star athlete in the past, is not the man he once was given he broke his ankle at the first hurdle he attempted to jump. Thus, there is a certain intended irony in calling this broken man who must prop himself up with alcohol and crutches ‘Brick’. Brick is soft, Brick is Broken, Brick cannot stand on his own.

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Margaret, called Maggie by everyone, has a name that sounds suspiciously close to Nag or Naggy. We will come to see that Maggie nags Brick regarding a number of topics that will include halting his excessive drinking, conceiving a child with her, resisting Gooper’s efforts to capture Big Daddy’s wealth for himself, resuming their non-existent sex life, and so forth. It should be noted that calling Maggie a nag is not intended pejoratively in this analysis. Maggie’s only option is to nag Brick, so we might thus look at it as her attempt to erode Brick’s willful self-destruction, which as his wife, has profound implications for her as well. Maggie is powerless and her only hope is to steer and manipulate Brick toward better decisions than those he is currently making. In other words, Maggie is trapped and is attempting to make the best of a dreary situation.     

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-Maggie informs Brick that she believes Big Daddy harbors a ‘lech’ for her (23). In other words, Maggie thinks Big Daddy has sexual lust for her. This is a rather ponderous thing for a wife to tell her husband about his father. We will soon learn that Maggie and Brick do not have sexual relations at all—another bit of dark irony regarding Brick’s name (a brick that can’t get hard). It seems as though Maggie is trying to rouse Brick out of his sexual indifference by pointing out that even a dying man has more of a libido than he does. What we thus see in Brick and Big Daddy is an interesting similarity; Big Daddy is dying slowly from cancer, while Brick is slowly killing himself with alcohol.

-Maggie notices Brick looking at her in a disconcerting way. She seems to hold him responsible for the “hideous!—transformation” that his conduct toward her has caused, rendering her “hard! Frantic” (27).

-Maggie goes on to share some fairly profound sentiments with Brick regarding their frigid marriage, “Living with someone you love can be lonelier—than living entirely alone!—if the one that y’ love doesn’t love you…” (28). Brick responds to Maggie’s vulnerability by asking whether she would rather live alone. His indifference is cold and could almost be called mean-spirited.

-As their exchange continues, Maggie marvels at Brick’s retention of his attractive appearance, despite being a drunk. Then we have the first fleeting mention of Brick’s friend, Skipper. We do not know anything about Skipper yet, however upon uttering his name, Maggie quickly states, “I’m sorry. I never keep my fingers off a sore,” (30). While it remains vague at this moment, we now know that Brick bares some form of wound related to Skipper.

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-Maggie, goes on to address their former sex life, “You were a wonderful lover…Such a wonderful person to go to bed with, and I think it was mostly because you really were indifferent to it. […] Your indifference made you wonderful at lovemaking—strange?—but true…” (30). The word choice here is rather interesting; how can love be made when one of the participants is indifferent? At best, Maggie was making love, while Brick was simply going through the motions and fulfilling an obligation, so to speak.

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-Maggie continues addressing their (lack of a) sex life, “You know, if I thought you would never, never, never make love to me again—I would go downstairs to the kitchen and pick out the largest and sharpest knife I could find and stick it straight through my heart, I swear that I would!” (30-31) While this is undoubtedly melodramatic, it nonetheless conveys the heartfelt sentiments that Maggie continues to have for Brick. She goes on to explain that she has not given up on Brick or their marriage and will continue to fight for it. Despite whatever readers may interpret as her shortcomings, Maggie seems to be completely devoted to Brick, despite his hostile indifference (31).

-What follows is a rather revealing moment in Act One. Brick drops his crutch and demands that Maggie retrieve it for him. Rather than retrieving the crutch, initially Maggie offers to serve as his support, inviting Brick repeatedly, “Lean on me,” (32). Brick outright refuses, declaring, “I don’t want to lean on you, I want my crutch! Are you going to give me my crutch or do I have to get down on my knees on the floor and—” (32). Brick refuses the help and support of a loved one, opting instead for a crutch. The wooden crutches prop him up in much the way he uses/ abuses alcohol to tolerate or endure life. Symbolically, Maggie is saying to Brick, ‘You do not need to struggle alone, you can come to me for support’, while Brick is rejecting any method of support that cannot be accomplished by him alone.

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-Brick makes his first mention of drinking until he feels a ‘click’ in his head (33). As was previously mentioned, Brick drinks until the world becomes tolerable.

-Maggie mentions Big Daddy’s birthday party, the reason for the large gathering that is currently underway in the play (33), and Brick claims to have forgotten it altogether. Brick goes on to refuse to even sign his father’s birthday card (34). While this might be easily dismissed as the forgetful tendencies of a drunk, I suspect that there is more to it. Big Daddy’s birthday and his cancer diagnosis are reminders of his and Brick’s mortality. The reason Brick finds himself drinking, yet unable to achieve the ‘click’ in his head in all likelihood points to the fact that he is attempting to escape the unescapable. A person can drink to potentially ease the stress of a tough day, but no amount of drinking can erase the existential dread of human mortality or the secrets that torture them.

-As Maggie persists in trying to force Brick to sign his father’s card, Brick again refuses, cryptically reminding her, “You keep forgetting the conditions on which I agreed to stay on living with you,” (35). The conditions are not precisely specified, though evidently there was some form of ultimatum agreed to by both.

-Mae, Gooper’s wife (Gooper is Brick’s brother), enters Brick and Maggie’s room to complain that a trophy has been left within reach of her young children, who apparently used it as a weapon. Maggie and Mae openly take mean-spirited swipes at one another; Maggie insinuates that Mae has poorly raised her children, while Mae disdainfully mentions Maggie’s being childless (36). In both cases the women are attacking one another’s womanhood by pointing out perceived inadequacies in their respective roles as wives.  

-The contemptuous dynamic continues as Maggie observes that Mae gave her children names typically reserved for dogs. Maggie’s conduct is so blatant that Mae directly asks her, “Why are you so catty?” (37). Maggie evades the question, lacking the will or courage to identify the cause of her disdain (38). However, once Mae leaves the room, Maggie explains her cattiness to Brick, “I’m consumed with envy an’ eaten up by longing?” (38)

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-More cryptic dialogue emerges as Maggie asks Brick, “How long does it have to go on? This punishment? Haven’t I done enough, haven’t I served my term, can’t I apply for a—pardon?” To which Brick replies in the harshest possible way, “Maggie, you’re spoiling my liquor. Lately your voice always sounds like you’d been running upstairs to warn somebody that the house was on fire!” (39) Readers at this juncture have been given no insight as to Maggie’s infraction against Brick. Whatever the cause, it seems that he cannot stand even the sound of her voice. There is also something nearly hysterical in this character, as she cannot seem to allow one moment of silence. The room must always be filled with the sound of her speaking in paragraphs, jumping from one unsettling topic to the next.

-Maggie again invokes the play’s title, once more telling Brick, “I feel all the time like a cat on a hot tin roof!” To which he replies, “Then jump off the roof, jump off it, cats can jump off roofs and land on their four feet uninjured!” (39) He continues, “Take a lover!” (40) As this exchange continues, Brick tells Maggie that he is embarrassed for her, and she begs, “don’t continue my torture. I can’t live on under these circumstances,” (40). During this exchange Maggie seizes Brick’s shoulder until he breaks away from her grip, seizing a “small boudoir chair and raises it like a lion-tamer facing a big circus cat,” (41).

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-From this exchange we learn the great tension that undergirds their marriage due to Brick’s unwillingness to be sexually intimate with Maggie. While the reason/ cause remains unexplored, we are offered a front row seat to the results of that decision.

-Big Mama makes her first appearance in the play. She receives good news about Big Daddy’s cancer diagnosis and rushes to tell Brick (41). During her escalating exchange with Brick, Maggie locked their bedroom door (40), much to Big Momma’s dismay, prompting her to declare that privacy is not allowed and does not exist in her home.

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-Upon Big Mama’s arrival, Brick went to the bathroom to change into silk pajamas but was more than likely retreating in order to hide from his mother. She ran to deliver the news that Big Daddy, rather than having cancer, simply suffers from a “spastic colon,” (44).

-Big Momma is confused and disappointed by the fact that Brick has greeted such news with complete silence (44).

-Big Mama implies that Maggie is responsible for Brick’s excessive drinking, “Some single men stop drinkin’ when they git married and others start! Brick never touched liquor before he--!” (47) (‘married you’ is the unspoken end of that sentence). She then goes on to suggest that Maggie is failing to please Brick sexually. “Something’s not right! You’re childless and my son drinks!” (47) Rather than hold Brick, a man, accountable for his own issues, struggles and shortcomings, Big Mama blames the nearest woman. Maggie is a convenient scapegoat because it absolves Brick of personal accountability. Furthermore, it redirects a critical lens that might otherwise be pointed toward his family and the role they may have played in his present struggles.

-Upon Big Mama’s departure, Brick quickly emerges from the bathroom, revealing that he was indeed hiding from her (48).

-Big Mama broached the topic of their sex life, and Maggie uses the opportunity to convey her own thoughts on the matter. She intimates that she is staying attractive because she knows that Brick’s sexual interest in her will return at some point and goes on to recount anecdotes of other men taking notice of her. In fact, one man was so taken with her that he seemed on the verge of sexually assaulting her (49).

-Brick, rather than expressing jealousy or any emotion on the matter, simply asks why Maggie chose not to have sex with her aggressive admirer (49). Maggie explains, “Because I’m not going to give you any excuse to divorce me for being unfaithful or anything else…” (50).

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-Brick’s response is simultaneously disappointing and loving/compassionate in its own way, “Maggie, I wouldn’t divorce you for being unfaithful or anything else. Don’t you know that? Hell. I’d be relieved to know that you’d found yourself a lover,” (50). Brick knows that he is incapable of offering Maggie the intimacy and affection that any person needs. However, rather than expecting her to go without, he encourages her to seek it from someone who is capable. While this might be a heartbreaking sentiment for one spouse to share with another, it is one seemingly conveyed with empathy rather than bitterness or malice.

-The conversation then migrates to Big Daddy’s health. Maggie seems to know something the rest of the family refuses to see. Whether it is wisdom or intuition, Maggie is convinced that Big Daddy has cancer, and the doctors are lying simply to calm and appease the hysterical family (51).

-“[H]uman beings dream of life everlasting […] But most of them want it on earth and not in heaven,” (52).

-Maggie believes that Mae and Gooper have been made aware of Big Daddy’s true diagnosis, which is why they are in attendance for his birthday celebration. She thinks that Mae and Gooper are strategizing to inherit all of Big Daddy’s wealth, cutting her and Brick out, which is theoretically possible, since he has not created a will (52).  

-Maggie explains that she admires Big Daddy, because despite his crassness, he became successful on his own terms and never stopped authentically being himself (53).

-Maggie grew up poor and has no intention of returning to that life. “You can be young without money, but you can’t be old without it. You’ve got to be old with money because to be old without it is just too awful, “(54). As we assess why Maggie tolerates Brick, her financial preoccupations should not be overlooked. That being said, I nonetheless have the sense that she married Brick with sincere intentions, and the marriage vows actually mean something to her. Either way, readers should assess this matter for themselves and draw their own conclusions. Does Maggie tolerate Brick and his immense shortcomings due simply to the financial benefits of being married to a wealthy man or does she care for Brick and tolerate him due to love and devotion? Your position on this matter will significantly impact your appraisal of Maggie.

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-Maggie mentions being “a cat on a hot tin roof” yet again (54). This would be an appropriate moment to analyze the aforementioned idiom. Here is what several sources tell us regarding the idiom:

• According to https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/like-a-cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof the idiom is  “used to describe someone who is in a state of extreme nervous worry.” Interestingly, cambridge.org also points out that an alternate version the expression is ‘a cat on hot BRICKS’. It would thus seem that the name of Maggie’s husband is entirely intentional.

• https://idiomation.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof/ explains it thusly, “If someone says you’re like a cat on a hot tin roof, it would seem that you can’t keep still. You’re restless. Imagine for a moment, if you will, what it might be like if you were actually a cat who was literally trying to walk about on a hot tin roof. You wouldn’t be still for very long and you’d probably be pretty jumpy about being up there in the first place.” This website, addressing the history of both actual tin roofs and whether Williams is the originator of the idiom had this to say, “tin roofs were used in America at the turn of the 1800s when the Pennsylvania Statehouse — better known as Independence Hall — in Philadelphia was finished with tin shingles. Even Thomas Jefferson, who commissioned a study on tin shingle roofs, felt compelled to have tin shingles used when roofing Monticello. But the tin roof was most popular in America between 1860 and 1920.   It’s safe to say that Tennessee Williams didn’t coin the phrase, and picked it up in conversation.”

• https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/cat+on+a+hot+tin+roof offers us some historical background, “Skittish, nervous, ill at ease. A similar analogy— “like a cat on a hot bake stone” appeared in John Ray’s Proverbs of 1678. It was later replaced by “like a cat on hot bricks,” still used in the midtwentieth century, but Tennessee Williams preferred the more picturesque “hot tin roof” for the title of his 1955 play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

Pulling all of this together and combining it with my own analysis, here is what I came up with; Maggie is in a state of perpetual agitation due to the dysfunction of her marriage to Brick. They have no sex life, they bicker constantly, Brick is a drunk, and so forth. A cat on a hot tin roof is a creature that finds itself in an impossible situation; if it climbs further up the roof, it continues to burn its paws, if it climbs down the roof, it continues to burn its paws, and its only option is to jump risking total destruction, hence the agitation. This links perfectly to Maggie; she can stay in a miserable marriage with Brick and remain miserable or she can leave Brick and risk total destruction—at least with regard to destroying the life of privilege to which she has grown accustomed due to his family’s wealth. Just like the cat on a hot tin roof, Maggie has only awful options that both leave her in misery.

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-Skipper, an old friend of Brick’s, makes his first appearance in the play. However, unlike every other character, Skipper, who is dead, should be seen as a ghost that haunts Brick. I do not mean to suggest that he haunts Brick in the supernatural sense, but rather in the form of memory. Maggie cryptically alludes to an unpleasant event involving Skipper, “I made my mistake when I told you about that thing with Skipper. Never should have confessed it, a fatal error, tellin’ you about that thing with Skipper.” Brick is quick and direct in his attempt to close that topic of conversation, “Maggie, shut up about Skipper […],” (55).

-Despite Brick’s direct demand to close the subject, Maggie persists, “This time I’m going to finish what I have to say to you. Skipper and I made love, if love you could call it, because it brought us closer to you. You see, you son of a bitch, you asked too much of people, of me, of him, of all the unlucky poor sons of bitches that happen to love you, and there was a whole pack of them, yes, there was a whole pack of them besides me and Skipper, you asked too goddam much of people that loved you, you—superior creature!—you godlike being!—And so we made love to each other to dream it was you, both of us! Yes, yes, yes! Truth, truth! What’s so awful about it? I like it, I think the truth is—yeah! I shouldn’t have told you…” (56).

-Maggie’s lengthy dialogue is highly revealing. First, it informs us that Maggie cheated on Brick with his best friend, Skipper. Second, it reveals that everyone in Brick’s life is somehow tortured by their love for him. Third, Skipper and Maggie made love because they viewed one another as symbolic of Brick. Finally, Maggie’s dialogue reveals that Skipper had romantic feelings for Brick, though it is not clear whether Brick reciprocated those feelings emotionally or physically. This will be a central question in the minds of readers for the remainder of the play; is Brick closeted and gay? We will not be offered a conclusive answer regarding this matter, as Williams will leave that up to readers to determine for ourselves.

-Here is an interesting article by Psychiatric Times exploring the complex topic of being ‘closeted’ versus ‘coming out of the closet’ from a therapeutic perspective. This will offer you enriched, in-depth insight into Brick:

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The Closet: Psychological Issues of Being In and Coming Out

October 1, 2004

By Jack Drescher, MD

Publication

Article

Psychiatric Times Psychiatric Times Vol 21 No 12

Volume 21

Issue 12

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/closet-psychological-issues-being-and-coming-out

In the jargon of contemporary homosexual culture, those who hide their sexual identities are referred to as either closeted or said to be in the closet. Revealing one's homosexuality is referred to as coming out. Clinical experience with gay patients reveals hiding and revealing behaviors to be psychologically complex.

Homosexual Identities

In the developmental histories of gay men and women, periods of difficulty in acknowledging their homosexuality, either to themselves or to others, are often reported. Children who grow up to be gay rarely receive family support in dealing with antihomosexual prejudices. On the contrary, beginning in childhood--and distinguishing them from racial and ethnic minorities--gay people are often subjected to the antihomosexual attitudes of their own families and communities (Drescher et al., 2004). Antihomosexual attitudes include homophobia (Weinberg, 1972), heterosexism (Herek, 1984), moral condemnations of homosexuality (Drescher, 1998) and antigay violence (Herek and Berrill, 1992). Hiding activities learned in childhood often persist into young adulthood, middle age and even senescence, leading many gay people to conceal important aspects of themselves.

Closeted individuals frequently cannot acknowledge to themselves, let alone to others, their homoerotic feelings, attractions and fantasies. Their homosexuality is so unacceptable that it must be kept out of conscious awareness and cannot be integrated into their public persona. Consequently, these feelings must be dissociated from the self and hidden from others.

If and when same-sex feelings and attractions can no longer be kept out of consciousness, the individual becomes homosexually self-aware. Individuals to whom this happens can acknowledge some aspect of their homosexuality to themselves. While homosexually self-aware people might consider accepting and integrating these feelings into their public persona, acceptance is not a pre-determined outcome. For example, a religious, homosexually self-aware man may choose a celibate life to avoid what, for him, would be the problematic integration of his religious and sexual identities.

Individuals who are either consciously prepared to act on their homoerotic feelings or to reveal a homosexual identity to others usually define themselves as gay or lesbian. To be gay, in contrast to being homosexually self-aware, is to claim a normative identity. In other words, defining oneself as gay usually requires some measure of self-acceptance. A gay person may choose to come out to family or intimate acquaintances. Others may come out to people they have met in the gay community while keeping their gay identity separate from the rest of their lives.

Another homosexual identity is the non-gay-identified individual. These people have experienced homosexual self-awareness, may have acted on their feelings, and may have even once identified as gay or lesbian. However, such individuals find it difficult, if not impossible, to naturalize their same-sex feelings and attractions. While recognizing their homosexual feelings, these individuals reject the feelings and, despite the low odds of success, may even seek to change their sexual orientation (Shidlo et al., 2001).

The above classification of homosexual identities privileges the role of self-definition. These identities are not mutually exclusive; there is often overlap between and differing motivations within them. They are shaped by individual and cultural factors. Consequently, when individuals become homosexually self-aware, there is a wide range of psychosocially constructed attitudes and responses they may develop toward their own homosexuality. For example, a homosexually self-aware man may initially identify himself as gay but then regret that decision and return to his earlier practices of hiding. Another may choose a non-gay identity, attempt a "sexual conversion" therapy, but then later decide to accept his homosexual feelings and come out.

Dissociation

What psychological mechanisms facilitate separating one's sexual identity from the rest of one's persona? Sullivan's (1956) concept of dissociation may be illuminating, particularly its most common aspect: selective inattention. A ubiquitous, nonpathological process, selective inattention makes life more manageable, like tuning out the background noise on a busy street. However, through dissociation of anxiety-provoking knowledge about the self, a whole double life can be lived and yet, in some ways, not be known. Clinical presentations of closeted gay people may lie somewhere in severity between selective inattention--most commonly seen in the case of homosexually self-aware patients thinking about "the possibility" that they might be gay--to more severe dissociation--in which any hint of same-sex feelings resides totally out of conscious awareness. More severe forms of dissociation are commonly observed in married men who are homosexually self-aware but cannot permit the thought of themselves as gay (Roughton, 2002).

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Self-Esteem and the Closet

Some closeted gay people can reflexively speak without revealing the gender of the person being discussed or without providing any gendered details of their personal lives. Sedgwick (1990) called "'Closetedness' ... a performance initiated as such by the speech act of a silence--not a particular silence, but a silence that accrues particularity by fits and starts, in relation to the discourse that surrounds and differentially constitutes it." Toward that end, a gay person might avoid references to gender altogether: "I went out last night with someone I've been dating for the last few weeks. We went to a movie in their neighborhood. We talked about the possibility of going to the beach next weekend." A heterosexual listening to these words might automatically assume a heterosexual relationship was being discussed.

It can be painful to keep significant aspects of the self hidden or to vigilantly separate aspects of the self from each other. Constant hiding creates difficulties in accurately assessing other people's perceptions of oneself, as well as recognizing one's own strengths. Dissociation's impact on self-esteem can also make it difficult to feel one's actual accomplishments as reflections of one's own abilities. Transparency, invisibility, losing one's voice, and being stuck behind walls or other barriers are some of the terms used to describe the subjective experience of dissociative detachment (Drescher, 1998).

The Closet and Gay-Bashing

For some gay men, "Hiding and passing as heterosexual becomes a lifelong moral hatred of the self; a maze of corruptions, petty lies, and half truths that spoil social relations in family and friendship" (Herdt and Boxer, 1993). There are many gay men who, before they came out, were either "gay-baiters" or "gay-bashers" themselves.

Attacking those perceived to be gay serves several functions. One penile plethysmography study indicated that men with strong antihomosexual beliefs actually had significant homosexual arousal patterns (Adams et al., 1996). Strong antihomosexual feelings may represent an effort to control perceptions of a gay-basher's own sexual identity. This might translate as, "If I attack gay people, no one will think I am gay." Psychoanalysts call this defense "identification with the aggressor" (Freud, 1966). It may represent intrapsychic efforts to maintain a psychological distance from one's own homoerotic feelings. In other words, it is an effort to strengthen dissociative tendencies.

Coming Out

Coming out may be the most commonly shared cultural experience that defines the modern gay identity. Historically, the term was an ironic reference to debutantes "coming out into society" (Chauncey, 1994). In contemporary usage, "coming out of the closet" means telling another person that one is gay.

Years spent in the closet can make the prospect of revealing oneself an emotionally charged experience. However, the process is not just about revealing oneself to others--in coming out, gay people integrate, as best they can, dissociated aspects of the self. Herdt and Boxer (1993) classified coming out as a ritual process of passage that requires a gay person to 1) unlearn the principles of natural or essentialist heterosexuality; 2) unlearn the stereotypes of homosexuality; and 3) learn the ways of the lesbian and gay culture they are entering. Finally, as gay people must decide on a daily basis whether to reveal and to whom they will reveal themselves, coming out is a process that never ends.

Coming out to oneself is a subjective experience of inner recognition. It is a moment that is sometimes charged with excitement and at other times with trepidation. It is a realization that previously unacceptable feelings or desires are part of one's self. It is, in part, a verbal process--putting into words previously inarticulated feelings and ideas. It is a recapturing of disavowed experiences.

Coming out to oneself may precede any sexual contact. Sometimes, the moment of coming out to oneself is sexually exciting. Some gay people describe it as a switch being turned on. "Coming home" or "discovering who I really was" are how gay people frequently describe coming out to themselves. In the language of Winnicott (1965), it can be experienced as a moment in which they make contact with their true selves.

Coming out to oneself may be followed by coming out to others. Such revelations are not always greeted with enthusiasm, and fear of rejection often plays a significant role in a gay person's decision about who to tell or whether to come out. For those who cannot come out in their hometown, moving to another city offers opportunities to come out among strangers. It can be exhilarating to come out in new and faraway places where one is not known to either family or friends. After making such a move, gay people may completely (and perhaps dissociatively) sever relationships with their past lives.

The Therapist's Role

A therapist's recognition and respect for individual differences allows multiple possibilities in the coming out process. There is no single way to come out, a fact sometimes overlooked by well-intentioned therapists trying to affirm a patient's homosexuality. Every coming out situation may be associated with anxiety, relief or both.

As previously stated, being gay, in contrast to being homosexually self-aware, is to claim a normative identity. From this perspective, coming out to oneself is integrative and often serves to affirm a patient's sense of worth. It is a prerequisite of this work that therapists be able to accept their patients' homosexuality as a normal variation of human sexuality, and that they value and respect same-sex feelings and behaviors as well (Drescher, 1998).

A therapist fluent in the meanings of coming out can point out both obstacles to and inhibitions of the process. However, patients may hear therapist fluency as tacit encouragement to "hurry up and come out," even rebuking a therapist for perceived efforts to force movement in that direction. Therapists need to be aware they can be heard this way and treat it as grist for the psychotherapeutic mill.

Therapists should recognize gay patients' struggles to define themselves as the important therapeutic focus--and that this is not a typical struggle for those who claim a heterosexual identity. Gay patients face a whole set of decisions unlike anything heterosexuals face. Hiding from oneself depends upon dissociative defenses, while coming out to oneself holds the possibility of psychological integration. An implicit value of psychotherapy is that integration is more psychologically meaningful than dissociation. Consequently, therapists cannot be neutral about coming out to the self.

Coming out to others can be fraught with danger. A need to hide may be based on reasonable concerns, as in the case of gay men and women serving in the military. A therapist would be unwise to advise a patient to come out without knowing the attitudes and opinions of the intended object of the patient's revelation. A therapist cannot fully predict the consequences of such a revelation on the relationship of those two people. Again, coming out to others needs to be addressed in a way that recognizes individual differences.

Internalized, antihomosexual attitudes are often rigid and disdainful of compromise or "relativism." A patient's dogmatic belief system may not recognize the concept of respectful disagreement. Nevertheless, exploration of such internalized, moral absolutes, and the identifications from which they stem, requires therapeutic tact. Some patients may try to resolve inner conflicts about being gay by selectively attending to their antihomosexual identifications. Unable to tolerate conflicting feelings about homosexuality, these patients rather unconvincingly tell themselves, "It is OK to be gay." This approach reverses the feelings and identifications of a closeted identity. In the subjectivity of the latter, heterosexuality is idealized and homosexuality dissociated. After coming out, being gay is idealized, while disapproving feelings are denied. Therapeutic holding entails being able to contain both sides (Winnicott, 1986).

When gay patients understand their own antihomosexual attitudes--and the defenses against them--they have a wider view of themselves. As patients feel more comfortable with themselves, they may begin to feel more comfortable with others. Not only does this encourage self-awareness, increase self-esteem and enhance the quality of relationships, it helps a patient more accurately assess the implications of coming out. If a patient chooses to come out, the decision needs to be carefully explored. Conversely, the same is true if a patient decides not to come out.

Given the social stigma, the severity of antihomosexual attitudes in the culture and the difficulties associated with revealing one's sexual identity, why would a gay person come out at all? "Most frequently coming out involves choices about how to handle moments of ordinary, daily conversation" (Magee and Miller, 1995). Furthermore, coming out offers gay people the possibility of integrating a wider range of previously split-off affects, not just their sexual feelings (Drescher et al., 2003). Greater ease in expressing themselves, both to themselves and to others, can lead to an enormous enrichment of their work and relationships. To many, such activities constitute a reasonable definition of mental health.

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-The above article offers insight into why it is that Brick, if indeed he is gay and closeted, would opt to keep his sexual identity hidden and private. Deciding whether to ‘come out’ is a complex deliberation that is impacted by innumerable variables including, though not limited to, culture, religion, personal values, and so forth. It could easily be that Brick, despite comporting himself in a fashion that is consistent with what any reasonable person might identify as homosexual, might simply be unable or unwilling to acknowledge that fact to himself or others.

-Brick corrects Maggie, reminding her that it was not she who informed him of her infidelity with Skipper, it was actually Skipper (56).

-Maggie: “[…] life has got to be allowed to continue even after the dream of life is—all—over…” (57). In other words, despite the fact that one’s hopes and dreams may have been shattered, life must continue. A person cannot spend the rest of their life lamenting and mourning aspirations that never came to be.

-Maggie offers a recollection of a double date they went on with Skipper, “Why I remember when we double-dated at college, Gladys Fitzgerald and I and you and Skipper, it was more like a date between you and Skipper. Gladys and I were just sort of tagging along as if it was necessary to chaperone you!—to make a good public impression—” (57).

-Maggie is directly suggesting that Brick and Skipper were simply using she and Gladys as what is referred to as a ‘beard’ in the LGBTQ+ community. Here’s an explanation of the term in this context, “A “beard” is an antiquated slang term for someone whose social presence serves to mask aspects of someone else’s true self from the public.  In the early days of queer culture, a “beard” was a wife, girlfriend or female companion who acted (wittingly or not) as social cover for a closeted gay man. In the days when virile movie stars dated beautiful women to cover up their secret gay lifestyles, the beard was an indispensable part of the social order,” (https://thewisdomdaily.com/are-you-a-beard/).

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-Brick becomes so upset by Maggie’s accusation regarding his alleged amorous relationship with Skipper that he threatens to kill her with his crutch (57). As previously mentioned, readers must begin deliberating whether they believe there is any substance to Maggie’s interpretation (Maggie is the first but will not be the last character in this play to suggest that Skipper and Brick were in a secret gay relationship). On one hand, Brick’s immediate, violent rage is so over the top that it seems to be an evasive strategy—in other words, he is attempting to bully and intimidate people in order to silence them from discussing the truth. Were this accusation not true, it could easily be shrugged off or ridiculed for its outlandishness. On the other hand, society in the past and even today, has a very limited scope with regard to friendship and intimacy among men. If men appear in the eyes of others to be ‘too close’ or to deviate too far outside of accepted parameters of heteronormative dynamics, the reflexive impulse of many is simply to label them as gay with pejorative intent. Whether the suspicion of his potentially being gay is accurate or not, the mere discussion and speculation could destroy Brick’s life, both figuratively and literally. It could just as easily be the case the Brick and Skipper were extremely close friends and found a bond in one another that they simply could not find in anyone else. Brick’s rage could just as easily reflect his frustration with everyone in his life refusing to accept the truth—in this case, the truth would be that he is not gay but will nonetheless be forced to endure the social consequences of being gay. Imagine the frustration of the world unwaveringly believing something about you that is entirely false.

-Continuing to address Maggie’s interpretation that he and Skipper were in a secret gay relationship, Brick says, “One man has one great true thing in his life. One great good thing which is true!—I had friendship with Skipper.—You are naming it dirty!” (58)

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-Maggie replies, “[…] I’m naming it so damn clean that it killed poor Skipper!—You two had something that had to be kept on ice, yes, incorruptible, yes!—and death was the only icebox where you could keep it….” (58).  

-Brick has yet to address Skipper’s feelings, but with regard to his own, he maintains they were nothing more than profoundly close friends. Maggie seems to be suggesting that their inability to embrace their feelings for one another is what ultimately killed Skipper.

-Brick reasonably points out that he married Maggie, which he would not have done, were he actually gay (58). This is not exactly the answer a wife would ideally receive from a husband thought to be gay (Please refer back to the article about being closeted). Brick does not mention loving Maggie, nor does he make any effort to point out anything positive in their marriage that might serve as a contradiction to her supposedly misguided notions.

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-Maggie continues more or less alleging that Brick and Skipper prolonged their time as athletes simply to be around one another. However, at some point Brick was gravely injured and Skipper continued to drink heavily. After an especially humiliating loss, Maggie confronted Skipper, “[…] SKIPPER! STOP LOVIN’ MY HUSBAND OR TELL HIM HE’S GOT TO LET YOU ADMIT IT TO HIM!—one way or another! HE SLAPPED ME HARD ON THE MOUTH! […] I destroyed him, by telling him truth that he and his world which he was born and raised in, yours and his world, had told him could not be told? From then on Skipper was nothing at all but a receptacle for liquor and drugs…” (58-59)

-Maggie’s assessment of Brick and Skipper’s relationship does not appear to be tainted by malice or hate. She seems to simply want honesty from the man she married. Maggie goes on to point out that if nothing else, she is honest (60). Which is to say, while others might gossip behind backs, Maggie has the personal integrity to confront an unpleasant truth (unpleasant in the sense that she unwittingly married someone under false pretenses, unbeknownst at the time…possibly?). This brings to mind what entertainer, Groucho Marx, said to his wife when she caught him in bed with another woman, “Who are you going to believe, me or your own lying eyes?”

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-Maggie’s lengthy plea to Brick ostensibly closes when she desperately states, “But Brick?!—Skipper is dead! I’m alive! Maggie the cat is—alive! I am alive, alive!” (60) As she speaks, Brick has thrown a crutch at her with the intention of causing harm. The sudden loss of the crutch leaves him pitifully and drunkenly on the floor. I think Maggie’s intention, beyond bluntly stating the truth as she sees it, is to offer Brick a wakeup call of sorts. While it is indeed tragic that Skipper is gone, she is still there and she loves him, and to spend one’s life pining for the dead (be it friend or lover) when there is so much good to live for is a waste. Brick has so much but can only focus on what/ who is missing. I think Maggie also sees herself as competing with a dead man/ ghost for Brick’s love—and to make matters worse, she is losing.

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-Their heated exchange is interrupted when Dixie, one of Gooper’s children, bursts into their room. Maggie wastes no time in chastising the child (60-61). However, rather than meekly apologizing, Dixie instead mocks Maggie, “You’re jealous!—You’re just jealous because you can’t have babies!” (61). This moment offers readers insight into the family dynamic; there is no privacy and there are no secrets. Further, the children have evidently been recruited to participate in the malicious animosity among adults.

-This exchange provides Maggie with the perfect opportunity to remind Brick that she is presently at her most fertile, causing this to be an ideal moment to conceive, to which Brick replies, “[…] how in the hell on earth do you imagine—that you’re going to have a child by a man who can’t stand you?” (62)

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-By the end of Act One, we see that everyone in this play communicates with such cruelty. Vulnerability, rather than invoking support or kindness, is treated as a weak point ideal for attack. Further, everyone, including the children, has grown so accustomed to the dynamic that they appear to be unharmed by sentiments that are truly vitriolic. As to Maggie and Brick conceiving a child, it seems as though parenthood is being considered simply as a strategic maneuver as the siblings compete to inherit Big Daddy’s fortune. However, do note that there appears to be no consideration as to the impact such an environment might have upon children, never mind Brick and Maggie’s capacity to parent. Brick is a potentially gay alcoholic who cannot stand his wife, and Maggie is the prop who married into wealth with no discernable capacity to support herself, let alone parent a child.

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Act two

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-While Act Two will initially feature a variety of characters, the main thrust of this scene will depict a blunt and revealing exchange between Brick and Big Daddy. Brick is the favorite son, but he is both a failure and a reflection of his father’s failures, as the characters of the play seem to see it. In addition to being perceived as gay by his entire family, he is a drunk, he has withdrawn from his career in sports commentary, he has failed to produce offspring, and he seems generally to lack the drive that caused his father to become one of the wealthiest men in Mississippi.

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-Big Daddy’s birthday celebration has been moved to Brick and Maggie’s room due to Brick’s injury. In addition to the previously mentioned family members, Reverend Tooker is also in attendance. Tooker is a peripheral character who is of little consequence to the plot. Williams mainly depicts him as a schnorrer (a Yiddish word that means “a person who habitually borrows or lives at the expense of others with no intention of repaying; sponger; moocher; beggar,” dictionary.com), and I would surmise that it is likely no coincidence that his name invokes the term ‘taker’, rather than ‘giver’.

-Tooker is speaking with Gooper and appears to be soliciting for renovations or improvements to the church, since he seems to think Big Daddy will soon die (63-64).

-While everyone congregates, Brick remains off to the side, leaning on the liquor cabinet, using it as a crutch, one might say (65).

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-The narration informs readers that, “Big Daddy is famous for his jokes at Big Mama’s expense, and nobody laughs louder at these jokes than Big Mama herself, though sometimes they’re pretty cruel and Big Momma has to pick up or fuss with something to cover the hurt that the loud laugh doesn’t quite cover,” (65). The narration also informs readers that the news of Big Daddy’s not having cancer is a “false report” (ibid).

-Big Mama dotes on Brick above all others as though he were still a child, referring to him as her “precious baby” and a “bad boy” for drinking so heavily. Her presence and conduct are an annoyance to both Brick and Big Daddy, who regards her with, “a steady grimace of chronic annoyance,” (66). It is rather interesting that despite being surrounded by actual children, Big Mama’s sole concern is her grown adult son. It seems safe to deduce that brick is the favorite.

-The family sings birthday songs to Big Daddy, and Big Mama is especially jubilant over the [false] news of Big Daddy’s health.

-As Big Mama addresses the room, Maggie interrupts to ensure Big Daddy will open the gift from her and Brick first (70).

-Mae uses this as an opportunity to take more cheap shots at Maggie, and Big Daddy attempts to silence Mae three times, though she refuses to heed his demand that she be quiet (71).

-Mae is quickly in search of an exit from the deteriorating gathering and wonders aloud whether they could go out onto the balcony without being eaten alive by mosquitos, to which Big Daddy replies, “Well, if they do, I’ll have your bones pulverized for fertilizer!” (72) Mae seemingly wants to move the party away from Brick so that all of the attention will not be solely focused upon him. Big Daddy’s reply suggests that he does not like Mae very much.

-Big Daddy inquires about the cause of Brick’s injury for the second time during this celebration. He asks crassly in front of everyone whether Brick was, “jumping or humping,” or “layin’ a woman out on that cinder track?” (73)

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-Big Daddy persists in crassly questioning Brick in front of everyone. When Big Mama attempts to hush him, he retorts, “I’ll talk like I want on my birthday, Ida, or any other goddam day of the year and anybody here that don’t like it knows what they can do,” (75). While he is undoubtedly crass and even mean-spirited, Big Daddy is also bluntly honest. Nobody needs to guess at how he feels or what he thinks about any person or topic.

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-After Big Mama’s failed attempt to silence him, Big Daddy explains, “[…] I put up with a whole lot of crap around here because I thought I was dying. And you thought I was dying and you started taking over, well, you can stop taking over now, Ida, because I’m not gonna die, you can just now stop this business of taking over because you’re not taking over because I’m not dying […]. Didn’t you have an idea I was dying of cancer and now you could take control of this place and everything on it? I got that impression, I seemed to get that impression. Your loud voice everywhere, your fat old body butting in here and there!” (75-76) In other words, due to his weakened state, some people thought he was dying, and his position as head of the family was up for grabs. Big Daddy is thus reminding Big Momma, and by extension, everyone else, that he has returned and will reprise his role as the patriarch of the family.

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-Big Daddy’s speech continues, “I went through all that laboratory and operation and all just so I would know if you or me was boss here! Well, now it turns out that I am and you ain’t—and that’s my present—and my cake and champagne!—because for three years now you been gradually taking over. Bossing. Talking. Sashaying your fat old body around the place I made! I made this place! I was overseer on it! […]” He continues to explain how is did it all himself “with no goddam help from you, and now you think you’re just about to take over. Well, I am just about to tell you that you are not just about to take over a God damn thing. Is that clear to you, Ida? […] nothing is wrong with me but a spastic colon—made spastic, I guess, by disgust! By all the goddam lies and liars that I have had to put up with, and all the goddam hypocrisy that I lived with all these forty years that we been livin’ together!” (77)

-To reiterate, Big Daddy is reclaiming his place as patriarch of the family. It seems he relinquished the position for three years during his illness, which he now misguidedly believes has ended. Further, while his speech is seemingly directed to Big Mama, it is nonetheless clear that he is in actuality addressing everyone in the room. Despite his speech being speckled with racism and personal attacks, it also conveys a clear sentiment. Big Daddy sees himself as the only one in his family who worked hard to earn wealth, status, and privilege, and he tremendously resents the way his various family members have connived to usurp his position. In other words, he believes that people have conspired to exploit his weakened state to benefit themselves.

-Big Mama’s reaction to Big Daddy’s speech (78):

Big Mama: In all these years you never believed that I loved you??

Big Daddy: Huh?

Big Mama: And I did, I did so much, I did love you!—I even loved your hate and your hardness, Big Daddy!

Big Daddy: Wouldn’t it be funny if that was true…  

Big Mama has interpreted Big Daddy’s speech to call her loyalty and love into question, which is a ponderous interpretation, hence his initial response, “Huh?” He never questioned her love; he rejected her perceived power grab.

-Big Daddy summons Brick. The remainder of Act Two will mainly consist of an intense exchange between father and son. Maggie attempts to assist Brick over to his father and kisses him on the mouth prior to departing the scene. Brick immediately wipes his mouth, prompting Big Daddy to inquire why he wiped the kiss away as though Maggie had spit on him (79).

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Big Daddy observes that both wives, Maggie and Mae, “look like a couple of cats on a hot tin roof. It’s funny that you and Gooper being so different would pick out the same type of woman,” (79). On the surface, it is hard to imagine how this could be true. Mae has a sixth child on the way, she lives an entirely domesticated, conventional life, and so forth. While Maggie has no children, no sex life, and is seemingly free to do whatever she likes, without the interference of her husband, rendering her rather unconventional. So, what do they have in common? Both women are miserable, both women are trapped in their respective lives, both women hate one another, and both are pushing their respective husbands to usurp Big Daddy. Furthermore, both are married to men who are seemingly not up to the task; Brick due to being an out of work drunk, and Gooper due to seemingly being in want of leadership traits, and of course, the favor of his father.

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-Brick wonders aloud why both wives appear to be two cats on a hot tin roof, and goes on to answer his own question, “Well. They’re sittin’ in the middle of a big piece of land, Big Daddy, twenty-eight thousand acres is a pretty big piece of land and so they’re squaring off on it, each determined to knock off a bigger piece of it than the other whenever you let it go,” (80). Big Daddy has no plans of relinquishing his land or his position and is content to let the women fight it out like a pair of cats.

-After repeatedly likening Maggie and Mae to a pair of cats, Big Daddy then continues to liken Mae to livestock, referring to her as “a good breeder” and to her children (his grandchildren) as cattle, “she’s got five head of them, now, and another one’s comin’,” (80). Between the way he speaks to and about Big Mama and his daughters-in-law, it is quite evident that Big Daddy has a rather limited view of women that places them in a category in proximity to animals. This is to say, that just as livestock serves a particular purpose, and a cat can provide companionship, neither category of creature is good for much else seemingly in his view.

-As Big Daddy and Brick speak, Big Daddy detects that Mae is secretly listening to their conversation (81). He chastises Mae, calling her out for spying, “It’s none of your business what goes on in here at night between Brick an’ Maggie. You listen at night like a couple of rutten peekhole spies and go give a report on what you hear to Big Mama an’ she comes to me and says they say such and such and so and so about what they heard goin’ on between Brick an’ Maggie, and Jesus, it makes me sick […],” (82).

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-After Mae’s attempt to spy is thwarted, Big Daddy explains what has been relayed to him and Big Mama about Brick and Maggie’s private life, “They listen and give reports to Big Mama on what goes on in here between you and Maggie. They say that—You won’t sleep with her, that you sleep on the sofa. Is that true or not true? If you don’t like Maggie, get rid of Maggie! […]” (83). Notice the ease with which Big Daddy advises Brick to discard Maggie. She should simply be gotten rid of as though she was a piece of rubbish or faulty livestock.

-Brick goes on to admit to Big Daddy that he has a drinking problem, which is directly responsible for his no longer working as a sports announcer (83). Big Daddy seems to be offering loving advice to his clearly struggling son, “Life is important. There’s nothing else to hold onto. A man that drinks is throwing his life away. Don’t do it, hold onto your life. There’s nothing else to hold onto…” (84).

-Brick is unable or perhaps unwilling to explain the cause of his excessive drinking (84).

-Big Daddy informs Brick that his fortune consists of ten million dollars in blue chip stocks and twenty-eight thousand acres of fertile land (86). “$10,000,000 in 1954 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $117,024,535.32 today, an increase of $107,024,535.32 over 70 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.58% per year between 1954 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 1,070.25%,”(https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1954?amount=10000000).

-“[A] man can’t buy his life with it, he can’t buy back his life with it when it has been spent […]. That’s a sobering thought, a very sobering thought, and that’s a thought that I was turning over in my head, over and over and over—until today…” (86-87).

-Big Daddy recounts the anecdote of his trip to Morocco with Big Mama. He recalls a four-year-old girl sent by her mother to Big Daddy in order to solicit him for sex work. He was so taken aback by the incident that he promptly ended his trip (87-88). “[T]he human animal is a beast that dies but the fact that he’s dying don’t give him pity for others […],” (88).

-Brick comments repeatedly that Big Daddy is in a talkative mood, implying that he is bothered by their conversation (88, 89). Big Daddy replies, “I been quiet here lately, spoke not a word, just sat and stared into space. I had something heavy weighing on my mind but tonight that load was took off me. That’s why I’m talking […],” (89). In other words, it seems Big Daddy was dumbstruck by his impending death. However, the [false] news that he does not have cancer has evidently liberated his spirit and his tongue. This is why Big Daddy is poised to reclaim his position as head of the family and to break his silence on all that he has seen and heard. Continuing to live means that the structure of his family is once more of direct consequence to him.

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