Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” by Tennessee Williams shows many different versions of the feeling love. From the very beginning of the play readers see that Maggie loves her husband dearly, and tries to take care of him and make him happy regardless of the fact that he treats her so poorly. The question is, why does he treat her that way? She has made mistakes, but tries to make up for them, and only did what she did because she thought it would in turn help out the people she cared for. Maggie acted like Bricks crutches did. She held him up whenever he needed to be held up, and allowed him to face some sort of closer at the end of this play, when he finally admits to drinking out of sadness.

Maggie does what she can to help Brick by taking away his bottles of liquor when he gets too far into him, and by sticking by his side regardless of the fact that he depises her. Only someone who truly cares for another would stay with them when the only sort of feelings given where ones of anger and dislike. Continuing to prove that Brick means everything she says he does to her, she takes Big Daddy's side when he says that “a man who drinks is a man who throws his life away” (Williams 395). There is a fire in her that desires to keep this man alive even when he doesn’t want to be. She saves him. Brick wraps himself up in the fear that he may have been homosexual and that he may have loved his friend Skipper so much so that he can’t see that she wants him to live and live well. Her way of “occupy(occupying) the same cage” proves to be somewhat sacrificial just to keep pleasing this man that doesn’t even want to see her (Williams 377). Readers see that Brick needs his crutches to keep standing, but he also needs Maggie. Without her, he may have already drowned himself in his alcohol. He looks for a way to die, and she looks for a way to keep him up and well. Maggie even continues this after Brick threatens to hurdle his crutch at her to kill her when she speaks of something that upsets him. She levels him though, and keeps talking without him doing anything to stop her.

Throughout the play Brick obviously has a fear for what his sexual desires are, and cannot bear to face them due to Skipper’s death. His father forces him to realize why he drinks, and that if he really was this way, it would be okay. Big Daddy says in rebuttal to Brick saying he is worried about being gay that “I’m not easy to shock by anything here” (Williams 397). Big Daddy tells him he has seen it all, and this would be no shock. Coming to this realization completely wrecks him though, and he slips that Big Daddy is dying. Reeling from this occurrence Maggie, once again, brings him back to Earth. She lies to the family saying “a child is coming, sired by Brick” (Williams 408). This pleases his parents, who desperately wanted this, and she save the day by announcing this at the right time to get Brick off the