Character Analysis

Brick

Brick is the younger and favored son of Big Daddy and Big Mama and the loved husband of Maggie.  However, he acted indifferently toward his family members.  He used to be a sport player, but he “started drinking when his friend Skipper died” (Cat, 84).  He has been good friends with Skipper since they were in college.  However, Skipper loved Brick and had a desire of homosexuality toward Brick.  Brick never admitted his homosexuality, and he was even married to a woman!  However, his homosexuality is suggested by the author in the play.  When Brick’s desire for homosexuality toward Skipper is questioned by Maggie and Big Daddy, he reacts and palliates for himself radically.  He told Maggie angrily, “I had friendship with Skipper---and you are naming it dirty,” (Cat, 45) and he even tried to hit Maggie with his crutch!  His overreaction gives us a clue that he does have a desire toward Skipper.  His indulgence into liquor after Skipper’s death further more shows us that he is aware of his homosexuality but just lack the courage to face it and tries to hide himself from the world through liquor.

Maggie

Maggie is a joking, scheming woman. She is also the cat of this play. She deeply loves Brick, but Brick's coldness and refusal just makes her nervous and hysterical, sometimes even bitchy. Once she said, '' Living with someone you love can be lonelier-than living entirely alone!- if the one that y' love doesn't love you.... '' She is lonely and desires Brick's love. She likes wearing pretty clothes and posing her charming body in front of mirrors just to catch Brick's attention. Brick, however, just keeps ignoring. She even says that Big Daddy has a “lech” for her and brags about how seductive she is to other guys.  Brick's disregard also makes Maggie childless and puts them in an unfavorable position in Big Daddy's family.  Maggie wants Big Daddy's inheritance. This desire makes her scheming and a mischief maker. 

Big Mama

Big Mama is Brick’s mother, a big, fat woman.  She is a very emotional and sincere woman, who “shouted and sobbed and fell right down on [her] knee” (Cat, 34) when she found out that Big Daddy is not dying of cancer, and cried affectionately when she heard that Big Daddy doesn’t believe that she loves him.  At the same time, she is also a crude woman who is “notorious of inelegant horseplay” (Cat, 51).  She loves Big Daddy so dearly that she even loves his “hate and hardness” (Cat, 59) toward her.  However, Big Daddy never liked her and never believed that she ever loves him either.

Big Daddy

Big Daddy is a brash, crude plantation owner. He is also the patriarch of the family. His cancer has been quickly repressed by his family, so he believes that he has returned from "death's country". He knows that Brick, his favorite son, has a secret, and he is also suffering for it. He said that since he just returned from "death's country," he is not easily shocked and wants Brick to face his own desire honestly. Thinking he has fled from death, Big Daddy realized that life is not something money can buy. He also wants to be honest with himself and enjoy the rest of his life, so when Big Mama said that she has loved Big Daddy, in spite of his "hate and hardness'' for forty years, he responds with "Wouldn't it be funny if that was true? " to imply his indifference.

Gooper

Gooper is the eldest but least favored son of Big Daddy. He is also a successful lawyer. He hates Brick because their parents always dote on him; he wants to cut Brick out of the estate. In front of everyone (except Big Daddy), he also protested and said that he has always resents Daddy's love for Brick, but when Gooper and his wife Mae present Big Mama with a drafted will, Big Mama just rejects it in disgust. 

Mae

Mae is Gooper’s wife, who, as described by Big Daddy, “[looks] nervous as cats” (Cat, 60).  She, like Maggie, covets for Big Daddy’s estate and tried to get as much of them as possible.  She spies on Brick and Maggie and “give reports to Big Mama on what goes on … between [Brick] and Maggie” (Cat, 62)  Having six children herself, she keeps emphasizing the fact that Maggie and Brick are childless and tries to use this to help her gain more estate from Big Daddy.

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