Family Construction in Modern American Drama With a Reference to Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Abstract
This paper aims to study Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, concentrating on the theme of ‘family’, which is the smallest unit of any community, to explore how was the American life in the second half of twentieth century. The study plans to figure out the impact of the social and political matters in the second half of twentieth century such as (Second World War, materialism, etc) upon American community in general and family construction in particular. Tennessee’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was conducted during a phase of enormous prosperity as well as socio-political disturbance in 1950s. Tennessee Williams is the best American dramatist who sincerely portrays the life of individual and society of his time. The selected play of this study is characterized by a concept of ‘multigenerational play’ by which one nuclear family is expanded to a larger circle of extended family and grandparents. This paper has a feminist perspective in analyzing the play’s incidents and actions, this theory is the only adopted framework for this study. The paper focuses on two trends, first; the relationships among all family members in general, second, the connection between the cat (Maggie) and the other members of the family, such as her relation with her hubby in specific, and attempts to discover the framework of family’s power and the origin of that competence in the scope of Pollitt family. Concepts like illusion, gender, family race, male chauvinism and discrimination are considered important. The study concludes that it is hardly to find well-structured harmonious family and the inner struggle is the only sense which is exposed to the readers/audiences among all characters in the play. Moreover, the family is also involved in useless effort of making their life meaningful and coherent.
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