Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Dreams, Hopes, and Plans Quotes

The fact that Brick's attempt on the track field was picked up by local newspapers reveals how much of a superstar Brick once was and confirms local society's deep fascination with and former love of him.

Williams uses light on the stage to help set the emotional tone for the given moment. Maggie wants Brick to notice her more than almost anything, but he is always far, far away, concerned with the ghost that haunts him and with other, more indefinable things. The "fading gold space" at which Brick looks is ambiguous, but it evokes a fleeting light, and Brick relates to this fleeting light in a "troubled" way. It's as though Brick sees a likeness between the dying of the light and his own mortality and is disturbed by this. Perhaps death is not Brick's desire.

Maggie is wise and knows what drives humans to want what they want. Because of this, she understands those around her well. This helps her get what she wants.

Instead of running around a track or throwing footballs around on his high school football field, Brick chooses to jump hurdles. It seems strange that he would choose such a difficult task for his drunken self.

Big Daddy tells this as a way of inspiring and motivating Brick, but he also says that life is constructed out of lies. Thus, according to Big Daddy, lies are the only things to hold onto.

Big Daddy echoes Maggie's observation about the human desire for life everlasting, something that he himself would kill to have. Unlike Brick, he wants to live and live, even in spite of hating so many elements within his life (Big Mama, his grandchildren, church, clubs, etc.).

As Brick flounders in a world stuck between life and death, he searches for a click that will drown out the feelings of guilt for having lived so long with mendacity. The funny thing is, though, that the longer he chases this click, the faster he expedites his own death. The click only arrives when he has enough alcohol in his blood. Instead of fighting to make his lies true, Brick is in a No Man's Land, numbing his guilt.

While Brick used to be the hero and athlete, his football injury forced him into the passive role of watching and commenting on others. He says that this new lifestyle is "no help," that it only reveals the lies that sustain him and that once sustained him. He becomes a commentator and thus becomes part of the "society" that once heralded him as a hero-athlete. This comment further reveals how much Brick's self-image is wrapped up in his former athleticism.

Big Daddy loves Brick and so, in this way, the news of Brick and Maggie's baby would make him happy. However, in his conversation with Brick, we learn that life everlasting is really what Big Daddy longs for. In this quote, we see Big Mama project a hope onto Big Daddy, shining big spotlights onto the web of lies that forms their relationship and their world. In this way, we see again how little Big Mama and Big Daddy know each other. Big Mama is happy in this moment because, in her eyes, Brick and Maggie are no longer an abnormal, childless couple, but have conformed to the lifestyle that society deems proper.

Again, we see Maggie's ability to understand people and to perceive their wants and dreams. She positions herself as a pillar of strength here, seeing those around her as weak and beautiful. She has much love for the weaknesses in others.