Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1955

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Summary

Background

Act Summaries & Analyses

Act I

Act II

Act III

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Background

Genre Context: Southern Gothic Literature

Tennessee Williams is known for his contributions to Southern Gothic literature. Southern Gothic, often associated with writers like William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor, is a literary genre that uses gothic elements to explore the complexities of the post-war American South, including grotesque or macabre imagery and supernatural elements. Prior to the Civil War, the Antebellum South was known for its booming agricultural industry, including sprawling cotton plantations made wealthy by the unpaid labor of enslaved people. After the Civil War and emancipation, the South’s economy largely collapsed, leaving the region plagued by poverty, racism, sexism, and violence, with many formerly prestigious white families clinging to a past of perceived glory. Southern Gothic literature destabilizes the idealized vision of the American South and uses gothic elements to uncover its real social issues.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof contains many elements of Southern Gothic literature, including themes of family dysfunction and decay as well as grotesque imagery, like the portrayal of Mae as “monstrous” for her fertility. The Pollitts’ plantation represents the glamor of the Old South, and their inability to choose an heir demonstrates the decay of this glamor. Brick’s alcoholism and Gooper’s greed suggest the Pollitt estate will fall into further decay, reflecting the larger downfall of the American South.

Authorial Context: Tennessee Williams and American Theatre

Tennessee Williams is considered one of the greatest American playwrights of the 20th century. Born Thomas Lanier Williams III in 1911, Williams grew up in an unhappy family in Mississippi—who would later inspire his writing. He began writing plays in college and entering his work in various contests. In 1944, his first commercial success was The Glass Menagerie, a “memory play” in which the narrator describes his own unreliable recollection. The play was directed by Elia Kazan, who would go on to direct many of Williams’s other Broadway successes—including the iconic A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955). Throughout his career, Williams was awarded numerous prizes and recognitions—including two Pulitzer Prizes, three New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, and a Tony Award. Several of his plays were adapted into films, and many continue to be produced in theaters around the world.

Much of Williams’s work drew on his unhappy family and personal life, and he often experienced depression, mental health crises, and substance use disorders. Later in life, his health declined further, especially after the death of his long-time partner, Frank Merlo. He was moved in and out of treatment facilities, and though he continued to write, his work never achieved the success of his earlier plays. In 1983, a 71-year-old Williams was found dead in his New York City hotel room. Initial doctors’ reports claimed he died choking on a plastic bottle cap found in his mouth, but the cause was later changed to death by overdose of barbiturate—a sedative used to help with insomnia and anxiety.