Cat on a hot tin roof: November 11,12,13

1. Where and when does the story take place? (setting: place and time (geographical and historical))

2. Who are the characters? ( characterization)

3. What's their relationship?

4. What is the mood of the scene? ( atmosphere, feeling, dramatic tension)

5. What and whom are they talking about? ( narrative, plot, dialogue)





Context: Write short answers.
-What kind of family did Tennessee Williams (TW) have?
-Where does his first name come from?
-What is the Pulitzer Prize? the top american award.
-How was the original play changed for both Broadway and the cinema?
-How did TW die?
-What was the new American drama that TW represented?


Plot Overview: Put the events in the correct order.
-Maggie confesses to making love with Skipper. _____
-The family gets together with Mama and talks of Big Daddy’s cancer._____
-Big Daddy asks Brick about his drinking problem. _____
-Maggie says the Brick’s brother and wife are plotting to take all the inheritance. _____
-Maggie announces that she’s pregnant. _____
-Maggie talks about Brick and Skipper’s love for each other. _____
-We learn that Brick injured his ankle. _____
-Big Daddy enters the room. _____
-Brick says that the relationship with Skipper was pure. _____

Character List: Write down all the adjectives used to describe each character. Find the definition of the words you don’t know.
Margaret (Maggie), cat: bitchy, lonely, hard, nervous, gorgeous
Brick: alcoholic, masculine, suppressed homosexual, broken
Big Daddy: Brick's father, Maggie's father-in-law, fat, brash ( aggressive), vulgar, redneck, rich
Big Mama: fat, crude ( vulgar), earnest(sincere), dedicated to her husband
Mae: Brick's sister-in-law, Gooper's wife, mean, agitated, scheming, (conspiring)
Gooper: Brick's older brother, successful, eldest son, less popular, resentful, ruthless
Reverend Tucker:
Doctor Baugh:
The children: 5



Analysis of Major Characters:
Why is Maggie the most interesting character?
What does Brick’s injury represent?
Why does Maggie call Big Daddy a “redneck’?
What does Mama desperately want?


Themes, Motifs, and Symbols:
What was American society’s view of homosexuality at the time?
What are the two “lies” in the play?
What does the image of the “cat” represent?
What is Big Daddy’s narcissistic love for Brick?
What do the children represent?


Symbols:What do these three things symbolize?
- Bed
- Console
- Crutch


1. Cat Quiz: How’s your memory?
1. What is Gooper's occupation?
(A) He is a planter
(B) He is a defense attorney
-(C) He is a corporate lawyer
(D) He is a sports annoucer

2. What is the name of Skipper and Brick's pro football team?
(A) The Dixie Chicks
-(B) The Dixie Stars
(C) The Dixie Stripes
(D) The Dixie Cups

3. What happened to Big Daddy in Morocco?
(A) He was propositioned by a rent-boy
(B) He was fed to a man-eating plant
(C) He was eaten alive by a mob of street children
-(D) He was propositioned by a child prostitute

4. What body part do Mae's children apparently lack?
(A) Chins
(B) Eyes
-(C) Necks
(D) Legs

5. What did Maggie buy Big Daddy for his birthday?
(A) A clock
(B) A chandelier
(C) A tie
-(D) A robe

6. Who is described as a cat at some point in the play?
-(A) Maggie
(B) Mae
(C) Brick
(D) All of the above

7. Daddy believes that he suffers from which of the following?
(A) A ruptured spleen
-(B) A spastic colon
(C) Appendicitis
(D) Liver failure

8. What is the ostensible object of Brick's disgust?
-(A) Mendacity
(B) Time
(C) Women
(D) Children

9. Where did Maggie and Brick go to school?
(A) Emory
-(B) Old Miss
(C) Duke
(D) Notre Dame

10. How old is Big Daddy?
(A) Seventy-five
(B) Fifty-five
(C) Seventy
-(D) Sixty-five

11. Who was a cotton carnival queen?
(A) Maggie
(B) Big Mama
(C) Miss Sally
-(D) Mae

12. What do the children sing to Big Daddy?
-(A) Skinamarinka-dinka-dink
(B) My Heart Belongs to Daddy
(C) For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
(D) Yesterday Once More

13. What is Big Daddy's trademark word?
(A) Goddamn
(B) Shoot
(C) Darn
-(D) Crap

14. What is Big Mama's name?
(A) Polly
(B) Cornelia
(C) Sally
-(D) Ida

15. What were the names of the plantation's previous owners?
(A) Straw and Othello
-(B) Straw and Ochello
(C) Ochello and Sawyer
(D) Othello and Sawyer

16. How many official versions of Cat are in circulation?
(A) Two
-(B) Three
(C) Four
(D) One

17. Who directed the premiere of Cat?
(A) Burl Ives
(B) Richard Brooks
-(C) Elia Kazan
(D) Madeleine Sherwood

18. When did Brick start drinking?
-(A) When Skipper died
(B) When Maggie slept with Skipper
(C) When he injured his back
(D) When Big Daddy got sick

19. Who confronted Skipper on his love for Brick?
(A) Brick
(B) Big Daddy
(C) Gooper
-(D) Maggie

20. Who revealed this love to Brick?
(A) Maggie
(B) Big Daddy
-(C) Skipper
(D) Mae

21. How does Maggie get Brick to sleep with her?
(A) Big Mama convinces Brick to impregnate her
(B) Big Daddy commands Brick to do so
-(C) She locks up his liquor
(D) She tricks him into thinking she is Skipper

22. Who tells Big Daddy that he is dying?
(A) Gooper
(B) Big Mama
-(C) Brick
(D) Maggie

23.Who does Big Mama jostle in her lap?
(A) Big Daddy
(B) Mae
(C) Doctor Baugh
-(D) Reverend Tooker

24. Who keeps calling from Memphis?
(A) Cornelia
-(B) Sally
(C) Gladys
(D) Dixie

25. Who sleeps next to Maggie and Brick's room?
(A) Big Daddy and Big Mama
-(B) Mae and Gooper
(C) Mae and Gooper's children
(D) The servants



MENDACITY, mendacious

The doctor lies about Big Daddy's health.( to make Big Daddy happy)
Maggies lies about being pregnant. ( to make Big Daddy happy)
Mae and Gooper pretend to like Big Daddy. ( to get the plantation)
Big Mama pretends everything is all right.
Brick lies to himself about his feelings for Skipper.
The Reverend pretends that the party is fine.