Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

The other Pollitts enter Brick and Maggie’s bedroom with Big Daddy in the lead. Gooper enters with Reverend Tooker, who is talking nonstop about church donations and improvements. Big Daddy asks if Reverend Tooker is expecting someone else to die soon and leave the church more money, and the Reverend awkwardly laughs off the question. Mae bursts in with the family doctor, Doc Baugh, talking about which shots her children have had. As everyone talks over one another, Maggie asks Brick to put on music. However, he is detached, so she puts on music herself. Big Daddy immediately commands her to turn it off. In the following silence, Big Mama rushes in, asking for Brick. Big Daddy, who often makes jokes at his wife’s expense, calls for the music to be turned back on, and everyone laughs.

Big Mama makes her way to Brick and asks him to put his glass down. He complies by draining his drink before giving her the glass, causing another round of laughter. Big Mama fusses over him, while he continues to be indifferent. Big Daddy watches her with “a steady grimace of chronic annoyance” (1183). She sits, then calls to the Reverend to help her up. When he offers his hand, Big Mama pulls him into her, cackling. The rest of the family looks on with varying degrees of amusement or irritation, and Big Daddy shouts at her to stop. At that moment, the servants wheel in Big Daddy’s birthday cake—flaming with candles—and several buckets of champagne. The family sings, and then Mae organizes her five children into a group, and they sing a rendition of “Skinamarinka.” Big Mama bursts into tears and tells the family that she is relieved by Big Daddy’s good health. She starts to say she was terrified that he might have cancer, but Maggie cuts her off. She asks Brick to give Big Daddy his birthday present, but Brick doesn’t respond, so she presents the gift herself. As Big Daddy tries to ask Brick how he broke his ankle, she unwraps the gift, feigning surprise as she reveals a cashmere robe.

Mae and Maggie bicker over whether Maggie or Brick bought the gift, and Big Daddy finally shouts for quiet. He asks Brink if it’s true that he broke his ankle jumping hurdles on a high school track, and Brick concurs absently. He then asks if Brick was on the track late at night because he was with another woman. Big Mama complains about her husband’s language, but Big Daddy demands that she be quiet. He again questions Brick, but Brick says he was only jumping hurdles. Big Mama urges Big Daddy to blow out his candles, and Maggie tries to propose a toast. However, Big Daddy rages at both of them. He says he will do whatever he likes, and now that he knows he isn’t dying of cancer, he isn’t going to put up with his wife “taking over.” While everyone else leaves the couple alone, Big Daddy yells that he quit school when he was 10 and worked hard to become the owner of the plantation. He argues he did it all on his own, and now that he has good health, he is back in charge. He claims his spastic colon was “made spastic […] by disgust” (1415), by the hypocrisy of his 40-year-long marriage. Big Mama is shocked that Big Daddy doesn’t believe her love for him is real, and she rushes out in tears. He mutters to himself, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that was true…” (1429), then shouts for Brick.

Brick limps in with his crutch and glass, closely followed by Maggie. She tells Big Daddy that she is “just delivering” Brick and kisses her husband before leaving. Brick wipes her kiss away as Big Daddy watches. He asks Brick why he wiped the kiss away, and Brick replies he did so unconsciously. Big Daddy comments on Maggie’s shapely figure, and says she and Mae are similar: They look nervous, “like a couple of cats on a hot tin roof” (1462). Brick points out he and Gooper both “married into society,” and both women are fighting for the bigger share of Big Daddy’s wealth. Big Daddy insists he isn’t going anywhere, and that the women can continue fighting for a long time. The men catch Mae eavesdropping outside the door, and Big Daddy chastises her, saying he will move her and Gooper to another room so they can no longer spy on Brick and Maggie. Mae breaks into tears and storms off. Big Daddy then asks Brick if it’s true that he doesn’t sleep with Maggie. He advises Brick to get rid of her if he doesn’t like her, but Brick is occupied making another drink. Big Daddy comments on his drinking, and Brick admits he has a problem. Big Daddy presses him on the issue, trying to understand why he quit his job as a sports announcer, but Brick is elusive.

A clock chimes 10:00 pm, and Big Daddy tells Brick that Big Mama bought the clock in Europe. He says the trip was terrible: Big Mama bought things everywhere they went, most of which are now collecting dust in the cellar. Big Daddy remarks that it’s a good thing he has so much money, and asks Brick to guess how much he is worth. Brick smiles, but doesn’t respond. Big Daddy reveals he has $10 million in cash and blue-chip stocks, as well as 28,000 acres of farmland. However, he notes “a man can’t buy his life with it” (1611), his recent brush with death having made him wiser. He tells Brick about seeing “fat and […] pleasant” priests in Barcelona and throwing money to skinny children as if “[scattering] feed corn for chickens” (1623). Then, Big Daddy discusses sex work and commercial sexual exploitation in Morocco: He remembers seeing a woman staring at him and sending a girl over—so young she could barely walk—who tried to unbutton his trousers. Disturbed by this memory, he says humans keep buying things in the hope of buying everlasting life. As Brick makes another drink, he remarks Big Daddy is talking more than usual. Big Daddy’s fear of death kept him quiet, but now, he wants to express himself.

Brick prefers quiet and tells Big Daddy that whenever they have “a talk,” they never truly communicate. Big Daddy gets up to close the door, then reiterates he was terrified of death. He says men aren’t blessed with the “ignorance […] of mortality,” but a real man has to “keep a tight mouth” (1710) about his fears. He wonders if whiskey would damage his colon, but when Brick suggests otherwise, he makes a drink. As Big Daddy pours, he tells Brick that he still feels desire for women, and kept having sex with Big Mama up until five years ago, even though he “never even liked her” (1755). Now, he wishes to pursue other women. At that moment, Big Mama bursts in to answer the phone. Big Daddy makes another joke at her expense and laughs until he feels a pain in his stomach. Big Mama finishes her call, but Big Daddy holds the door shut, insisting she go back out a different way. She asks if he meant what he said earlier, but he ignores her.

Turning back to Brick, Big Daddy wishes Big Mama would leave him alone. As he laughs at the thought of a beautiful new woman, he tells Brick that he is happy and touches him. Brick awaits the peaceful “click” of alcohol, and upon hearing this, Big Daddy realizes the severity of his alcoholism. He blames himself for not noticing due to his preoccupation with his health and refuses to let Brick go when he says he wants to sit alone. Brick points out that their conversation is going nowhere, and Big Daddy takes his crutch to strand him. He tells Brick that he is going to help him and again mentions his good health. Brick snatches his crutch and tries to hobble away, but Big Daddy pulls it out from under him, causing Brick to fall. He demands his crutch back, but Big Daddy refuses, asking Brick why he drinks. Finally, Brick announces he drinks “to kill [his] disgust” (2003). Big Daddy argues this isn’t specific enough, but Brick refuses to elaborate unless he has another drink.

As he takes a sip, Brick says he drinks because of mendacity. Big Daddy asks if Maggie has been lying to him, but Brick takes issue with everything. Big Daddy announces he could write a book on mendacity and enumerates his own pretenses—including his care for Big Mama, Gooper, Mae, and his grandchildren. He has always liked Brick and wants to see him succeed on the plantation. However, as much as he hates Gooper’s family, he cannot justify leaving the plantation to Brick as he is now. Big Daddy again praises his health, saying he doesn’t have to make a decision soon. Brick tries to end the conversation, suggesting they join the party outside, but Big Daddy stops him. He doesn’t want to leave anything unsaid between them and returns to the subject of Brick’s drinking, asking if liquor is the only thing that will kill his disgust. Brick says he is no longer young or believing. Finally, Big Daddy points out that he started drinking when Skipper died. Brick tries to reach for his crutch and asks his father what he is suggesting. Big Daddy insists he isn’t suggesting anything, but Gooper and Mae think there was something abnormal about their friendship. This comment breaks Brick’s detachment, and he demands to know who else has similar suspicions. Big Daddy tries to calm him, saying he “knocked around in [his] time” (2215), but Brick takes this as admission that his father believes him “queer.”

The men are interrupted again, this time by the Reverend looking for the bathroom. Big Daddy points him in the right direction and tells Brick about the previous plantation owners, Jack Straw and Peter Ochello—two bachelors who lived together. Peter was so upset when Jack died that he stopped eating. Brick throws his glass against a wall and shouts at his father to tell him what he truly thinks about his and Skipper’s relationship. Without his crutch, he falls, and Big Daddy tries to help him up. Brick laments that his “real, real, deep, deep friendship” (2330) with Skipper wasn’t respected. Big Daddy asks why Skipper and Brick both turned to alcohol. As he prepares to answer, Brick decides to reveal his father’s diagnosis. He claims Maggie was jealous of his relationship with Skipper and convinced Skipper that he was in love with him. Skipper slept with Maggie to prove it wasn’t true. However, he began to believe Maggie.

Big Daddy is certain Brick is leaving something out, and Brick admits Skipper called him drunk one night to confess his love. Brick hung up, and they never spoke again. Big Daddy is certain this is the root of Brick’s disgust, his inability to face truth. Brick argues no one can face truth, just like everyone wishing Big Daddy a happy birthday when they know he is dying. Realizing what he said, he tries to distract his father, suggesting they go out to see the ongoing fireworks—but Big Daddy demands that he finish what he was saying. He tells Big Daddy to leave his estate to Gooper and Mae, which only incenses him further. Big Daddy demands to know if everyone has been lying to him, and Brick replies mendacity can only be escaped through death or liquor. He takes his crutch from Big Daddy and limps out the door. Mae appears, but Big Daddy continues shouting for Brick. He finally reappears and apologizes, saying it is hard for him to understand how someone can care if they live or die. He claims he is “less alive” than others and thinks this makes it harder for him to lie. Brick says he and his father are friends, so they must tell each other the truth. As Big Daddy digests this information, a child runs through the room with firecrackers, screaming. Big Daddy exits, cursing his family of liars. The child is slapped offstage and runs through the room sobbing, as Brick stands motionless.