Additional Relevant Links - 2nd Tri (Farewell?)

Hello readers! To close off my blog posts for this section of the year (or probably ever), I provide a few additional links to enhance the experience of reading both The House of the Seven Gables and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof - just a few small things to make the reading experience better. If this is my last post on this blog, then I thank my teacher, classmates, and any other readers for following me on my journey through a few works of literature. Thanks for your time here, and maybe check out my personal film review blog that I shall be updating soon: Creeper's Reviews from the Abyss. Anyways, here are the links:

• Critic's Review of the 2013 Play Revival
• Big Daddy and Brick's Talk (Movie Scene)
• Essay from 2010 AP English Student (Analyzing Judge Pyncheon's character)
• The House of the Seven Gables (Movie Trailer)

Final Overview: The House of the Seven Gables & Cat On a Hot Tin Roof

     Reading through these two very different masterpieces has been a significant point in my journey through literature. Both have left deep impressions on my beauty-appreciative soul. Both essential meaning and the true commotion of life is brought to life through the wise lenses of these two very different authors. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables explores the effects of previous ancestors on the current generation and the generation's superstitious gossip. Tennessee Williams' Cat On a Hot Tin Roof touches upon the taboo ideas of tender marital issues, homosexuality, impending death, and the reality of inheritance. Both literary works, though miles different in style, have a lot to do with the idea of inheritance and one's effect on the future generation. One could say that this step in my literary journey was an overall preparation for the future and the future generations to come.
     Hawthornes' House of Seven Gables personifies the effect of a previous generation's gossip in such grave detail through delicate, stylish language. When I encountered this piece of work, I became immediately excited and intimidated by the complicated use of language throughout and the metaphorical bombs of wisdom dropped on the reader throughout the novel. This novel wasn't just a challenging piece of work, but an experience. The novel has broadened my horizon of language and fallen right into my line of wisdom. Hawthorne teaches a grand lesson about how what one person says can greatly effect the next generation to come. In this novel's case, those age-old words crafted a sort of "house" of superstition and decay. In his words, "A man will commit almost any wrong—he will heap up an immense pile of wickedness, as hard as granite, . . . only to build a great, gloomy, dark-chambered mansion, for himself to die in, and for his posterity to be miserable in" (269). The gossip and superstitions one creates will leave a dark, lasting impression on the future to come. It crafts a dark undertone that ensures everyone will keep away.
     Where Hawthorne's magnificent novel focuses on the words and rumors surrounding the future generation, Williams' Cat On a Hot Tin Roof focuses more on the insurance of a future generation, accompanying the major idea of having the taboo brought to light. Williams' compelling play may be a speedy read, but it contains some of the most heavy subject matter ever established in another play. The spirit of commotion that Williams tried to capture in his play was the chaos of having one's most taboo secrets brought to light. Not many playwrights attempt to construct a play on a sole, abstract idea, but Williams achieves the true, unstable emotion of being caught in a bad lie very well. However, like Hawthorne, Tennessee Williams also crafts inheritance into the play as an idea. The play focuses more on making sure the next generation is preserved along with marital traditions. As said in the play, marriage falls on the rocks in the bedroom.
     Nathaniel Hawthorne and Tennessee Williams are both fantastic authors, capturing heavy subjects and abstract ideas in very different ways. These literary marvels have helped broaden my range in both elegant language and comprehending the spirit of an utterly abstract emotion. These are truly meaningful literary masterpieces.

Word Count: 500 (minus passage citations)

Theme Exploration 2: Cat On a Hot Tin Roof

     In life, there are certain subjects the general public just don't speak of readily in a conversation. In Tennessee Williams' play, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, many taboo subjects are established looming over the main characters, such as inevitable death, intimacy issues in marriage, and a homosexual past. Williams' goal in this play is to capture the build-up of these secrets being bottled up and the eventual explosion that occurs when these issues are brought to light. This signals the play's true theme to the reader - keeping the taboo issues in one's family hidden under a cloak of mendacity only leads to chaos and discomfort. Put more simply, lying to one's own family about a hefty, embarrassing issue only brings about an unstable relationship between that person and that person's family. 

     The theme starts to become clear to the reader when Brick and Big Daddy are discussing what's been driving Brick to alcoholism. In the conversation, Brick claims he drinks to kill the disgust he has with the mendacity in the world, to which Big Daddy eventually exclaims, "You been passing the buck. This disgust with mendacity is disgust with yourself" (127)!  They had been talking about lies being the foundation of their family, especially Brick's homosexual past. The true mendacity in this play is not just in Brick, but the whole family. Each, like real families, struggle keeping secrets from each other, which one can see leads to eventual chaos, as the play closes with Big Daddy contemplating his death and Maggie attempting to sleep with Brick at Big Daddy's party. Williams' captures the true chaos of not only the taboo being discussed in public but also the effect it has when kept secret for too long. They say the truth will set you free. However, the if kept for too long, the truth will only ruin things and disrupt the friendly flow you have with your family. All Williams' wanted to portray was that sensitive issues can be tolerated when brought to light sooner.
     In the world in which we all live, there is a great cloak of mendacity being pulled off and finally exposed to the light. Issues people once kept heavily hidden under wraps are becoming easier and easier to discuss. Williams' true intent of writing this play was simply to wake people up. Just because the general public doesn't readily talk about an idea doesn't mean it will go away when ignored. In fact, it's pure mendacity.

Word Count: 400 (minus passage citation)