Alcohol functions in this play as a means of numbing the pain of living with lies. Brick drinks incessantly in search of a "click" of peacefulness, and, in some ways, to usher himself closer to death. Alcohol is his means of coping with world, when Brick can no longer deal with societal expectations for him. Alcohol functions as an escape from reality.
Alcohol serves as a means of both temporary escape and suicide in Cat.
Alcohol allows the Pollitt family to function.