“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” by Tennessee Williams, is a play about family relationships. It is set in the plantation home of Big Daddy, the Pollitt family patriarch, in the Mississippi Delta during the 1950s. Growing up, Big Daddy was poor. As a young adult, he traveled the country until he found a job at a cotton plantation where he worked as a field hand. With time, he became an overseer of the plantation, then a co-owner, and finally the sole manager and owner. Ultimately, Big Daddy rose from rags to riches.
However, Big Daddy does not identify as a humble man who rose to the top through hard work. Rather, he is misogynistic, lustful, and objectifies women. Big Daddy has lived a life of dishonesty; he loathes his wife, cannot stand his grandchildren,…show more content… I sometimes suspect that Big Daddy harbors a little unconscious ‘lech’ fo’ me…
BRICK. What makes you think that Big Daddy has a lech for you, Maggie?
MARGARET. Way he always drops his eyes down my body when I’m talkin’ to him, drops his eyes to my boobs an’ licks his old chops! (956)
The word ‘lech’ is a synonym for lust. Therefore, Margaret is claiming that Big Daddy is lustful after her as he “drops his eyes down” on her body, “drops his eyes” to her boobs, “an’ licks his old chops.” Big Daddy’s inappropriate desires are seen again after he finds out that he is not dying from cancer:
BIG DADDY. You know what I’m…show more content… This idea of objectifying women is solidified when Big Daddy says, “I don’t care how much she costs.” Here Big Daddy is suggesting that women can be bought as objects can be bought. As he continues to speak to Brick, Big Daddy’s objectification turns into misogyny as he displays his violence and hate towards women: “I’ll smother her in – minks! Ha ha!” Not only is “smother” a violent word that suggests suffocation but then Big Daddy laughs about the thought of doing so. Furthermore he says, “I’ll strip her naked and choke her with diamonds.” Again, Big Daddy laughs at the thought of violently “choking” a
