LANGUAGE V Individual assignment 7

Agostina Minini Traductorado de Ingls

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo Facultad de Filosofa y Letras Departamento de Ingls Idioma Ingls V Prof. Poveda

Cat on a Hot Tin Roo ! A "la# Revie$ Tennessee Williams made his name after winning two Pulitzer Prizes on the plays A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He is recognized for dealing with controversial issues in a very straightforward way, like his addiction to drugs and alcohol and his homose uality. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, his masterpiece, is not an e ception to his style. The play is emotionally engaging and powerful, which reveals unpleasant truths a!out the author"s alcohol a!use and his homose uality and mendacity in the face of a family crisis.

#ven !efore reading the play, the reader foreshadows that it comprises different topics from the ones they read a!out, since Williams declares he is outspoken on his different world. The play is set during the $%"s in &ississippi, in a plantation that used to !elong to a homose ual couple 'ack (traw and Peter )chello. *s the play unfolds, intricacies !etween truth and mendacity e teriorize. +pon reading the second act, ,rick is una!le to accept his homose uality after his father"s confrontation. -et, the hard truth is su!tly revealed, since the play was pu!lished in a conservative society. ,rick refused for years to sleep with his wife &argaret and they are childless. .n addition, ,rick !ecomes an alcoholic to vent his pent/up feelings after (keeper, his good friend,

commits suicide. He is discontented with society, a society that raises pre1udices against his se ual orientation2 therefore, he isolates himself from it.

The second hidden truth that comes to surface is ,ig 3addy"s denial of his disease. ,ig 3addy, a wealthy patriarch, tries to talk openly with his son ,rick2 however, he is distant, since his words are empty and circular. When his son finally tells him that he has cancer, tension among themselves is skillfully !uilt with the appropriate atmosphere that displays their feelings. *t this point, the 4uestion if we should tell a family mem!er of their impending death is raised.

Williams fully achieved human characters that display a spectrum of feelings like ve ation, fear, disgust, grief, among others. .t is though repetition of words that he !uilds a dramatic scenario that reflects that some hard truths are difficult to accept. ,y the end, this captivating play raises a moral 4uestion a!out the truth5 .s it !etter to live !y a !itter and painful truth or !y mendacity6