Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

The only character that has a significant presence in each of the three acts, Brick is undoubtedly a central figure in the text and heavily contributes to its meaning. With a play so reliant upon domestic tensions, the charisma of the characters plays an essential role in keeping the audience captivated, but arguably just as important in creating intrigue is Brick’s contrasting opacity. Williams describes him as still “slim and firm as a boy,” but there is a sense that Brick is on a downward spiral with his disillusionment slowly manifesting physically, especially with his broken ankle. Although he maintains his mysterious charm and “cool air of detachment,” the idea that “at some deeper level he is far from peaceful” is a crucial reminder that physical beauty can be isolating as it brings greater expectations.

While Williams insists it is impossible to truly know the root of Brick’s collapse, there are some possibilities to consider. A major factor is his relationship with his family, particularly his parents. As Big Mama “bears down upon” him, oddly childish terms of endearment such as “precious baby” underscore the lack of accountability placed upon him as a child, and even as an adult. Brick’s outward beauty has allowed him to avoid responsibility for most of his life, and as such he struggled with the transition to adulthood. This is made even clearer as the other family members awkwardly laugh as he downs a glass of alcohol that his mother tells him to get rid of, as no-one appears able to confront Brick about his quite serious issues. Indeed, the fact he refers to his parents as “Big Mama” and “Big Daddy” reinforces a childlike dynamic, and his interactions with the family patriarch only further this idea as his father “bargain[s]” truth with a drink.

The second act establishes an important parallel between Maggie and Big Daddy, which heavily influences the audience’s perception of Brick. Whereas in the first act it seemed his “rejection” of Maggie was cruel, Williams indicates to the audience that Brick is also a victim, forced to endure the long-winded rants reflecting the insecurities of other’s while internally struggling with his own. This character development is very much a unique approach by Williams and his decision to avoid over-explaining Brick brought the play both criticism and praise.
  
It is not until halfway through the first act that the audience even receives hints as to the cause of the marital collapse of Maggie and Brick, and even then, the information creates more ambiguity than it resolves. The idea the audience has of Brick is fragmented, and one would expect that his characterisation would be given clarity as the story progresses. But this is not a traditional plot, and while Brick’s sexuality, alcoholism, and general apathy are afforded increasing context as the play unfolds, Williams never provides a revelatory moment that solves all of Brick’s psychological problems. Instead, much more is revealed about Brick through what is left unsaid in various versions of the truth, and as such any definitive notion of what the ‘truth’ actually is becomes obscured. The audience’s ability to draw conclusions about Brick is inevitably inhibited by the same impossibility of truth that has immobilised him both psychically and psychologically.

This becomes painfully clear as Brick attempts to describe his own fall from grace while simultaneously navigating and avoiding his insecurities. The declaration of “disgust” being the root cause, omnisciently validated by the chiming of the clock, implies his disillusionment is both internal and external. As Big Daddy ironically pours him a drink, a mechanism he uses to separate himself from truth, Brick explains he is plagued by “mendacity” and the “lying and liars” of the world he is unable to avoid. Williams hints that Brick always had distractions from the real world in the form of football and his overindulged childhood, but when he could no longer play and was forced to commentate instead, he became painfully aware of the presence of his “disgust.”

Possibly the largest contributor to this sense of disgust is the perception of his relationship with Skipper, the mention of which immediately makes him defensive as he reaches for his “crutch,” symbolic of the crippling notion of truth. Uncharacteristically infuriated by the suggestion of something not “exactly normal” between the two former teammates, Brick “hurls his glass across the room.”  It is apparent that whether or not this speculation is accurate, he is certainly insecure about it. Distancing himself from tragically self-imposed labels such as “queers,” “ducking sissies,” and “fairies,” Brick’s homophobia seems to be a manifestation of his time at “Ole Miss,” where hyper-masculine ideals were imposed on him. His anecdote of him and Skipper threatening a homosexual off the campus is the clearest example of the corrosive influence of the “fraternity” culture that shaped him, and his constant insistence of the “exceptional friendship” he had being named “dirty” implies he is more so trying to convince himself. However, Williams once again draws attention to what is left unsaid in conversation and how that can influence or indeed complicate perception as Brick is cut off as he says “one or two times” something happened between the two. There is also clearly a sense of guilt in his “disgust” that Big Daddy believes is entirely internal, as it is revealed that Brick was unable to “face truth” with Skipper and as such contributed to his death.