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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Revision Notes

Brick


Character summary
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Used to be a sportsman – injured in an accident, no longer capable
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Potentially a closeted homosexual – references to Skipper and his relationship
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Key Character Quotes

Act 1

“A tone of politely feigned interest, masking indifference, or worse” (stage directions, page
1)
• Brick is distant and aloof – no care for his wife or for the world around him
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“cool air of detachment that people have who have given up the struggle
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‘Lightning’ is quick and powerful and has the ability to
destroy something peaceful (‘fair sky’) e
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In a quick moment Brick destroys what was an enjoyable evening for Big
Daddy
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’ (stage directions, page 6)
• Repetition – allows the director to choose how they place Brick – something else
suggests director should leave an element of suspense to Brick – he cannot be fully
understood
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“Maggie, you’re spoiling my liquor”(pg 15)
• Indicates Brick’s priorities, liquor is the only substance in his life that is unchanging
and constantly promotes positivity within Brick
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• Violent imagery – Brick’s emotional problems
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” (Page
22)
• Juxtaposes traditional attitude of men towards their wife at the time – often
paranoid and scared of their sexual liberation
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“Maggie, shut up about Skipper
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“You’re – you’re – you’re – foolin with something that – nobody ought to fool with” (page
25)
• Repetition – emphasis on Brick’s frustration
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“I had friendship with Skipper – you are naming it dirty” (page 27)
• Brick’s defence mechanism – he is unable to accept himself because he lives in a
society that condemns homosexuality
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• “strikes” like ‘lightning’ Brick’s emotional turmoil
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• Question – longer sentence, shows engagement with Maggie through rejecting her
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Act 2

“Jumping the hurdles, Big Daddy, runnin’ and jumpin’ the hurdles, but those high hurdles
have gotten too high for me, now”(pg 38)
• Potentially an extended metaphor for Brick’s inability to constantly meet society’s
high expectations, his homosexuality has made it too difficult for him to cope with
demands
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“You know what I like to hear most?
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Perfect, unbroken quiet
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“When we talk, it never materializes
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“Communication is – awful hard between people an’ – somehow between you and me, it just
don’t” (page 48)
• Brick struggles to form sentences – never given the opportunity to discuss in his
relationship with Maggie because she has learnt to fill silences with conversation
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“Any true thing between two people is too rare to be normal” (page 65)
• Romantic suggestion despite him being adamant that he was not in a relationship
with Skipper
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“Y’know I think that Maggie had always felt sort of left out because she and me never got
any closer together than two people just get in bed, which is not much closer than two cats
on a – fence humping
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• Compare to previous quote about Skipper – cannot be together in the same way –
ironic because bed should be where people get closest
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“Mendacity is a system that we live in
...
” (pg 68)
• Reflective of Brick’s depression and how he is not trying to kill himself, instead he is
trying to cope
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“Wouldn’t it be funny if that was true?” (pg 91)
• Ironic statement as large amount of play is about deceit
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“The miracle still has not happened”

John S
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”











Phoebe Lams

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