'Communication is - awful hand between people ... '. Consider the relevance of Brick's observation to the characterisation of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".

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Taryn Belcher-Brown

12AH Miss Bliss

‘Communication is – awful hand between people … ’. Consider the relevance of Brick’s observation to the characterisation of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”.

  Communication is a key aspect in the dynamics of the characters in the play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”. This contact and interaction with the characters displays to the reader the nature of the person and the feelings they have towards each other. Communication is very important in this play to help us, as readers, understand the characters and the relationships they hold between them.

  The two main characters, Brick and Maggie, their relationship is important in displaying how a marriage has gone terribly wrong. Unlike Gooper and Mae, the communication between these two has virtually disappeared and they are just live in a celibate marriage; ‘They’re impossible conditions.’ There marriage is not seen as a ‘normal’ one where they show love and affection it is often likened to a cage ‘We occupy the same cage.’ This strong metaphor evidently portrays just how their marriage has broken down and that the love had clearly gone. Maggie is often described as a cat as she is exposed as being hysterical and a very dissatisfied wife and a woman. Her husband Brick frustrates Maggie as he refuses to recognise her desire and passion towards him; Brick has this name by no coincidence alone, he is very ‘detached’ and when Maggie or anyone talks to him it is like talking to a ‘Brick’ wall. From what the reader is told, Brick had some sort of relationship with his friend Skipper in which they did communicate. Maggie comments on this and Brick gets very touchy; ‘Gladys and I were just tagging along as if it was necessary to chaperone you! – To make a good public impression – ’ From Skippers death Brick is a broken man and withdraws from the world behind his ‘crutch’ which his liquor. Instead of using Maggie as his crutch he only wants his liquor; from a successful football star to being reduced to finding his ‘click’ for peace Brick as slowly separated himself from any sort of friendship. He puts up a barrier towards anyone in his family and often in the play Brick is seen in the corner being ‘still unseen’.

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  In terms of Brick and Maggie’s relationship there isn’t one. Maggie, as I have stated before, is seen as a ‘cat’ and their marriage is likened to a ‘hot tin roof’. Tennessee uses this strong clear metaphor to highlight how the marriage was so broken down and how Maggie is trapped. In act one we see the relationship between Brick and Maggie and it reveals a lot about their friendship with others and each other. Brick is often unseen yet has a contrasting ease, ‘contrapuntal leisure’. Yet Maggie is very opinionated and seen as bitchy; we learn ...

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