Presentation on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

1. 'The Truth That Must Be Told: Gay Subjectivity, Homophobia, and Social History in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' by Dean Shackelford Main arguments: Social context: In the 1950s, Senator McCarthy was responsible for a great repression against gays and lesbians. They were considered as traitors, mentally ill as well as associated with scandals and an un-American behavior. No American writer was free to declare his/her opinion about homosexuality due to the intolerant age they lived in. These social taboos must be taken into account to understand the plot of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof since Tennessee Williams has been criticized of not being clear or being unresolved. However he demonstrates that social rejection is the root if his downfall- not homosexuality.

Skipper: He is a homoerotic symbol. He is represented as disturbed but clearly gay. Suicide was normally committed by any gay character in American drama due to their fear of public dismissal. Alcohol shows the inner nature of a person. In Brick we find a dichotomy between: Potential gay man: he symbolizes homosexual desire and he is 'eroticized'. Moreover, he rejects women, pays too much attention to his masculinity and shows an inner homophobia. Masculine ideal in America: he embodies the typical male qualities such as alcohol drinking, sexual power against women, emotional restraints and athletic success. Big Daddy: He represents tolerance and pro-gay respect. He shows his discomfort with social institutions; society is a fantasy that makes us liers. Savran and other authors mention that his colon cancer is a punishment for his homosexual open-mindedness. 2. 'Homosexual Panic in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' by Douglas Arrell Main arguments: Brick's sexuality is very mysterious. His excessive homophobia implies that he's not sure of his sexuality. His alcoholic habits are a consequence of his inability to choose whether he's homosexual or heterosexual. Brick is in a state of homosexual panic, that is to say a state of anxiety due to the fear of the possibility of being homosexual. Brick's moral paralysis(Cat, p.93) is due to self-ignorance of his sexual orientation, leading him to alcoholism. Male homosexual panic may lead to sexual anaesthesia.(p.64) Maggie is aware that Brick needs to consider the fact that he could be homosexual, in order to find out whether he really is heterosexual or not. Big Daddy is also in a state of homosexual panic. He is self-ignorant about homosexuality and denies homosexuality even more than Brick does.

The Broadway version of the 3rd act adds to Cat a dramatic sense: In Williams' original version, Brick is even more detached from life after his scene with Big Daddy and unchanged in his hostility with Maggie.,whereas in the Broadway version of the play, Brick loses much of his passivity as a result of his scene with Big Daddy; he talks of taking a cure of his alcoholism, supports Maggie in her lie about being pregnant and, at the end, seems ready to sleep with her. (p.69) Brick is lead from a fear-driven ignorance of his sexuality to a willingness to face it. (p.69)

3. Similarities and differences between the two articles: Similarities: Both articles focus on the concept of homosexuality in Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, especially emphasizing in the character of Brick. They both focus on the image of the male body, and how Brick's appearance not only becomes attractive for Maggie, but for the audience as well. Both articles discuss homosexuality in other characters of the play, such as Skipper, Big Daddy or the couple formed by Ochello and Straw. Differences: Shackelford's article offers a bit of history about the persecution of homosexuality in the 20th century America. It also focuses a lot more on social issues, talking about gender roles in society and the importance of the individual. It rises the question whether Brick's character affects the American male ideal, which he embodies in the play. Shackelford also offers a Freudian analysis concerning homosexuality and makes an analysis on Big Daddy's apparent bisexuality, a concept that does not appear in Arrell's article. It also brings to our attention that this play may contain the first representation of a gay family in American drama. Arrell's article is centered around the concept of 'homosexual panic', a concept that is used (at least in literature) when a male character is not so convinced about his own sexuality and suffers a sort of panic attack when he realises he might be 'different'. It also states that homosexual panic always affects the women involved, as we see in the characters of Maggie or Big Mama. It also argues whether Big Daddy is in an even deeper denial of his homosexuality only because he talks so openly about it. Bibliography: Arrell, Douglas, 'Homosexual Panic in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof', Modern Drama, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Spring, 2008), 60-72 <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_drama/v051/51.1.arrell.html> [Accessed on 7 March 2012] [Sarah Boulanger] Dukore, Bernard F., 'The Cat Has Nine Lives', The Tulane Drama Review, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Autumn, 1963), 95-100 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1124965> [Accessed on 6 March 2012] [Andreea Marasuica] Shackelford, Dean, 'The Truth That Must Be Told: Gay Subjectivity, Homophobia, and Social History in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Southeast Missouri State University (1998), 103-118 <http://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/archives/printversions.htm> [Accessed on 7 March 2012] [Arancha Sainz]