The Story Archive

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tennessee Williams · 1955 CE · Play · Modern / American · Contemporary

On the night of a Mississippi planter's sixty-fifth birthday his younger son drinks in an upstairs bedroom with a broken ankle, waiting for the click in his head that makes things peaceful, while his wife argues for the marriage and for their share of the land. The old man's medical report has been falsified to everyone but the doctors, and a childless couple's claim is losing ground to a brother with five children and another coming. Adapted from Williams's story Three Players of a Summer Game; Elia Kazan asked for a new third act, which Williams printed alongside the one he preferred.

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Lineage

Attributes

Genre
TragedyPsychological
Theme
Appearance vs RealityDeath & MortalityWealth & GreedGuilt & ConscienceForbidden Love
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Ruler / KingTragic HeroHeroine
Plot structure
Single DayDialogueTragic Reversal
Symbol / motif
The EstateThe FeastThe Storm
Conflict
vs Selfvs Person
Mode / tone
RealistTragic
Culture / tradition
Modern / American

Closest analogues