Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: What tangled webs we weave

Cat on a hot tin roof holds form to its classic appeal to those who read the play or see it
performed because of the captivating characters whose lives are completely tangled in
the webs they weave.  Each character seems to view their family member in a different
way. Here are a couple of examples that are throughout the texts:

Mae doesn’t think Maggie has an understanding for children.  Mae wants Maggie to lock
up her weapons so that the children don’t touch them.  However, Maggie thinks that if the
children were well behaved then they would have no interest in playing with the
weapons.  Mae then says, “Maggie, honey, if you had children of your own you’d know
how funny that is (pg.23).”  Maggie can’t stand the “no-neck children” because she thinks
they are not “trained” properly.  Yet, she knows nothing about children because she
doesn’t have them, as far as Mae is concerned.  It is a continuously ongoing battle
between the two women throughout the play.  Both women have different ways in
viewing what is the “norm” for how they should live there lives.

Ambiguity also plays a main role in the relationship between Brick and Maggie.  Brick
seems to have no sexual interest in Maggie (even though she is supposed to be
beautiful) let alone have any interest in what she has to say. Stereotypically, an
attractive woman can lure a man into her sexual desires.  However, this cultural idea is
not expressed through Brick’s feelings.  In fact, it poses as the opposite.   He is
consumed by his alcoholism.  Maggie wishes that the alcohol would just make him fat and
unattractive so that she wouldn’t want him so bad.  However, she feels like the alcohol
has done the opposite and has made him even better looking than before.  Somehow,
part of me thinks that Maggie thinks that Brick looks better than before because she
wants what she can’t have.  It’s sort of like that in human nature.  It’s almost like a cat
and mouse chase.  She’s the cat, he’s the mouse.  No matter what the mouse never
longs for the cat.  Not to mention his feelings spiraling out of control over his homosexual
desires for an old friend makes the situation worse.