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Theme Of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

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Death is the result of secret and lies. That is the theme wrapped around Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It involves a character, Brick, lost between his desired sexuality and his true sexuality, while been drastically affected by his best friend's death, Skipper, caught between lies and secrets. The desire of his wife, Maggie, to have a child has also drastically affected him. It is Maggie’s attempt to win him back, as he does not want her. The play as well involves malignant liver cancer taking over the father/family man and owner of the estate, Big Daddy. All of this is known by all of the characters for the exclusion of Big Mama and Big Daddy himself, but it is subtly touched by any of them. This leads to the regards of the estate between the …show more content…

Another example is how Mae shows her reasoning for the way she acts from the very first scene she comes out in. She has her kids and herself constantly trying to comfort and show Big Daddy how much they love and appreciate him. She does that because she believed that Big Daddy was going to die of cancer and she wanted to keep the estate. Gooper also wants to inherit the estate with Mae and therefore subtly discusses who will take over the plantation, when Big Daddy dies, with Big Mama. That disgusts Maggie and catapults Big Mama into a charge, which also leads Big Mama into denying Big Daddy’s death and express that Brick would be the one to inherit the estate if anything. It then creates this anger within Mae and Gooper because they believe Brick is irresponsible. The secrets they all keep subtly express what they want instead of being straightforward about it and create division, supporting the fact that keeping secrets from each other is what is bringing death to the family bond. It also leads Big Mama into denying Big Daddy’s death and express that Brick would be the one to inherit the estate. It then creates this anger within Mae and Gooper because they believe Brick is irresponsible.
To make matters worse, the characters lying to each other does not make anything better, specifically for Big Mama. At the beginning, when Big Daddy, Big Mama, and the doctor arrive from the test results, they give the news to Gooper and Mae that Big Daddy is cancer free.

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