Mendacity In A Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

In the game of life man is given the options to bluff, raise, or fold. He is dealt a hand created by the consequences of his choices or by outside forces beyond his control. It is a never ending cycle: choices made create more choices. Using diverse, complex characters simmering with passion and often a contradiction within themselves, Tennessee Williams examines the link of past and present created by man's choices in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

Mark Twain states in his essay on the Decay of the Art of Lying that “No fact is more firmly established than that lying is a necessity of our circumstances” The characters in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof often deny their circumstances and outright lie to one and another about their personal lives. However, these lies are spoken out of necessity, at the expense of social ranking and past remembrance. Tennessee Williams communicates to readers that verbal abuse and inabilities to tell the truth create unclear communication which breaks down relationships.

When one first begins to read A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor, one is assailed by the humorous petty grievances of a mother living under her son’s roof disrespected by her grandchildren and lonely in a house filled with people, clutching at memories of days long passed similar to the Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie. As the story unfolds one begins to see the indifference of Bailey toward his family in general and especially his mother—rightly so, as the ‘old lady’ nagged her son and his family to the point of hilarity and rib-hurtin’ laughter had the cat stayed in the bag and the car did not leave the road. This interesting story of a mentally abused woman slighted by her family, who makes the fatal error

“Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces” (Sigmund Freud). Illusion can be a part of our lives; however, if taken to the extreme, it can lead one to forget reality. Every individual has problems in life that must be faced with reality and not with illusion, even though it might throw one into flames of fires. Tennessee Williams' play of a family reveals the strength of resistance between reality and desire, judgment and imagination, and between male and female. The idea of reality versus illusion is demonstrated throughout the play. Blanche's

They both have family issues. Between Maggie’s greedy and stingy mother and siblings not supporting her in doing what she loves, and Frankie’s estranged daughter totally avoiding all of the letters he is writing her, both showed that ther family adversities were not going to get in the way of their success. Throughout the movie, Frankie became more of parent to Maggie than a mentor and friend. They both accepted roles and adopted one another as a family. Maggie had a huge fall out towards the end of the movie. She got severely injured by the Women’s World Boxing Champion, Billie. She was paralyzed from the neck down and was hospitalized for several months. She went to a rehab facility where she thought her health and injures would get better, but instead got worse. When Maggie’s family found out she was in the hospital, they immediately came to visit her. Her mother, Earline Fitzgerald was trying to act like she has been there for her through everything, but she really has not. Maggie felt awkward, annoyed, and frustrated at the fact that they were there. She told them to leave because they were acting very selfish and self-centered. After they left, Frankie came in the room to calm Maggie down and be there for her. She started feeling bad and kept making comments such as, “I want to die”, “This is the end for me”, and Frankie had no idea what to do. He felt torn apart and heartbroken that someone

Mendacity is an extreme impulse to be untruthful. It is to obfuscate the reality from fantasy. People often come in contact with people who can never be trusted because of their untruthfulness. These are the ones who practice mendacity to perfection. Many people change the truth in various ways in order to fit in with the social construction of reality.

Throughout my critique for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof I will mention the many different elements that make up the play. Williams’ message about deceitfulness and family issues are portrayed through the characters, themes, and setting. Those are all factors in getting Tennessee Williams’ message across to the audience.

The world is crafted through humanity’s perceptions, shaped by their shared experiences of the world, yet differentiated by each individual experience. Within The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, the ideas of overwhelming truth, individual perceptions, and the flaws of humanity are all explored. Through the various characters, with a specific focus on Tom’s narration, Williams argues that the truth is only a subjective idea that is created through the perceptions of humankind, molded through humanity’s flaws.

The theme of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie is conflict. The play contains both internal and external conflict. The absence of Tom's father forces external turmoil and conflict between Tom the protagonist, and his mother the antagonist. The internal conflict is seen within Tom through his constant references to leaving home and his selfishness. The play is about a young aspiring poet named Tom, who works at a shoe warehouse. Tom is unhappy with is life at home mainly because of his overbearing, over protective mother named Amanda. Tom also has a sister within the play named Laura who chooses to isolate herself from the rest of society. During the play Tom's relationship with his mother is filled with very harsh and abrasive

Communication is a very important aspect of any type of relationship. There are many themes in the play, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams, but the major theme is that of isolation and the lack of communication. This type of theme involves many character such as Brick and Margaret. Big Daddy and his oldest son Gooper. And Big Daddy and his youngest son Brick. The entire Pollitt family manifests the theme isolation and lack of communication.

As the play opens, the reader is led to believe that Maggie is mistreated and verbally abused by Brick. Although she is beautiful and states that she wants relations with Brick, he tells her he no longer loves her and to “take a lover.” (40). Brick states, “You keep forgetting the conditions by which I agreed to stay with you.” (35). “He adds” --But how in hell on earth do you imagine--that you’re going to have a child by a man that can’t stand you?” (63). The reader never learns the conditions but is led to believe it is associated with the death of his best friend, Skipper and the relationship between the three of them.

Love, greed, hate, and deception; Tennessee Williams’s plays are widely known for their description of emotion and avarice in the 20th century, especially in his childhood household. “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, one of his most popular plays, thoroughly represent Tennessee Williams’s style of writing. Wealth and power plays an important factor in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”; it’s power infected people with hate, greed and deception, bringing destruction and hate upon the family.

“There ain’t nothing more powerful than the odour of Mendacity”(Williams, 77) Mendacity is used effectively throughout the play Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. We witness how it tortures most of the characters in the play and its negative effect overall on the Pollitt family who as we can see suffers from the lack of association with each other. Mendacity acts as a vital part of every character’s life, it is also the turning point of the whole play which ends up causing disaster and for some happiness.

Tennessee Williams experiments with the idea of conformity vs. rebellion in his plays, specifically in The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by defying social customs in discussing human existence in relation to sexual identity, which is reflected in the characters, as well as in his use of different symbols and themes.

There was no time to brace for it and there was no chance for Lennie to see it coming. Maggie watched as her friend flew off of the horse head first and onto the muddy grass. It felt a if for a split second they world seemed to actually stop. She struggled to halt the movements of her horse and once she did, she scrambled to climb off of it. She raced across the grass, stumbling along they way, until she reached Lennie’s unmoving body. She fell on knees, examining the damage and when she took notice of the blood coming from his head she knew she would have to get help quick.