Journal Entry 2/10/16: Cat On a Hot Tin Roof

"Brick, y'know, I've been so God d*** disgustingly poor all my life! - That's the truth, Brick! . . . You don't know . . . how it feels to be poor as Job's turkey and have to suck up to relatives that you hated because they had money and all you had was a bunch of hand-me-down clothes and a few moldy three-per-cent government bonds . . . So that's why I'm like a cat on a hot tin roof" (Williams 54-55)!

     The author presents us with this powerful monologue revealing the full details of Maggie's anxiousness to be intimate with Brick and what she truly feels when she refers to the "cat on a hot tin roof." The metaphor itself can be applied outside of the text as being in a harmful or tense situation with confusion on how to escape. However, Maggie the Cat leaves little question about her feelings in this monologue, exposing the true meaning behind her character and the majority of the text.
     Many readers up to this point could translate Maggie's extended metaphor and anxious attitude as being frustrated from pure lack of intimacy or even total loss of chemistry with Brick. It's here that she reveals more than just what we can infer. While Big Daddy had been dying of cancer, the couple had been battling the rest of the family for his wealthy inheritance. However, he, like most traditional fathers, doesn't want to pass on his legacy to a branch of the tree without future generations. Maggie, with her poor background, just wants to feel rich, and Brick is refusing to give her even that. In conclusive reality, this is her "hot tin roof."

Word Count: 200