Many people prefer to live in a state of conformism in relation to their lives and not question about the things that bother them. That happens because the truth sometimes can be hard to be bore. Even though, we can assume that there are the ones who seek the true in order to find answers that can satisfy themselves. However, it is possible to say that there are individuals that present a contradictory behavior in relation to the truth that leads them to avoid and quest it. This kind of attitude can be found in literature. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, written by Tennessee Williams and the poem Prospective Immigrants Please Note, written by Adrienne Rich, are examples of literary works in which a conflicting quest for truth can be observed.

On both of these texts the desire to know the truth is accompanied by a contradictory feeling of not finding it out. On William’s play, this fact can be seen in the character Maggie, who is married to Brick. As the author shows, their relationship is disturbed by a possible homosexual affair that happened in the past between Brick, Maggie’s husband, and Skipper, his death close friend. As a result of the doubt that she has in relation to the veracity of this possibility, she seeks the truth about her husband’s homosexuality in a contradictory way. This contradiction is shown through the behavior that she adopts in order to discover the truth. That is because, at the same time that she wants to know what the truth is, she seems to fear it because this reality would put her in contact with a reality that she was not willing to learn. On Rich’s poem, this quest for the truth is also characterized by contradiction. This feeling can be observed by the doubt that the lyric I expresses when he/she wonders if he/she should or not pass through a door. In this sense, we can understand this door as a symbol that represents the boundary that separates the comfortable situation of ignoring the truth and the difficulties that facing it may bring.

On Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the unrevealed truth about Brick’s possible homosexual experience with Skipper is an issue that disturbs Maggie and directly affects her relationship with her husband. For that reason, she is constantly reminding Brick about Skipper:

Why I remember when we double-dated at college, Gladys Fitgerald and I and you and Skipper, it was more like a date between you and Skipper. Gladys and I were just short of tagging along as if was necessary to chaperone you! – to make a good public impression.(41)

This attitude can be seen as a way that Maggie found to force Brick to talk about his dead friend. In this sense, this insistence in mentioning him in her talks can be considered an attempt to make Brick reveal the truth about what was behind his relationship with Skipper. That is because by bringing his name to scene; Maggie could listen to Brick’s replies to her comments, in which she could find traces of what she wanted to know. In this fashion, it is possible to say that this strategy adopted by Maggie aims at having evidences that would lead her to the facts that she wanted to know.

Filled with this desire of knowing the truth Maggie constantly tries to instigate Brick to tell her what happened between Skipper and him. Nevertheless, this desire is accompanied of a fear of discovering this truth. That is because what she was looking for did not correspond to the information that she wanted to listen. As a consequence of this confusing feeling, Maggie is never direct in her questionings in relation to her husband’s homosexually. An example of that is when she puts her married wife position on the same level as her husband’s possible love affair: “Skipper is dead! I’m alive! Maggie the cat is alive” (43). In this moment it is possible to say that Maggie assumes that Skipper is the reason that is preventing her husband to notice her and to desire her as a husband would normally do. However, she does not say it directly. On the contrary, she says in a general way. Based on this fact, we can say that at the same time that Maggie instigates Brick in order to make him give a sign to her that would clear her doubts; she is not able to go straight to the point. This attitude happens due to the fact that at the bottom she does not really wanted to know the truth about what had gone on between her husband and Skipper.

Besides mentioning Skipper in order to give Brick opportunities to reveal the truth, Maggie also uses her power of feminine seduction in order to have some attention from her husband:

Other men still want me. My face looks strained, sometimes, but I’ve kept my figure as well as you’ve kept yours, and men admire it. I still turn heads on the street. (34)

This desire for attention is a result of the constant rejection that Maggie suffers from her husband. In addition to a need of being seen as a woman, we can assume that Maggie tries to provoke the male instinct in her man. In other words, as an attractive woman, she tries to cause a possible sexual desire that Brick might have for the female gender. In this sense, it is possible to say that Maggie is trying to have a positioning of her husband in relation to the female that is there in front of him and is offering herself to him. Nonetheless, Brick does not assume a positioning in relation to his wife when she gives him opportunities to do so. He, on the contrary of Maggie’s expectations, adopts a neutral behavior in relation to her. This neutrality is characterized by the fact that he does not say that she is not attractive nor says the opposite. In other words, Brick has a impartial position in relation to what he feels about his wife. This impartiality enhances the uncertainty that Maggie has in relation to his real feelings toward the opposite gender.

This neutral behavior adopted by Brick in relation to the attempts of his wife to discover the truth is not the only attitude that suggests the idea of his homosexuality on the play. That is because this reality in shown throughout Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in several ways. Nonetheless, we can state that this fact is never clearly shown on the William’s work. Instead of showing evidences of this potential truth, he prefers to show a doubtful behavior of Brick. In this line, Alan Sinfield (1994) affirms that “latent homosexuality is the question around Brick and Skipper in William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (45). This latency is presented through the inkling that shows a strong tendency for homosexuality on Brick’s attitudes. This tendency is latent on the play, that is, all the facts that lead us to believe on that true can be seen on it. These facts are shown through the description of Brick and Skipper’s close friendship that raise the question of latent homosexuality. Through these latent signals, the reader or the audience (when the play is performed) has the opportunity to choose the truth that they want to believe based on these attitudes. This possibility of drawing conclusions in relation to Brick’s possible homosexuality is doable because on the play there is this space that can be used by the public or readers to make inference in relation to his sexual past experiences. Nevertheless, the situations shown on the play can be considered a way of showing a hidden homosexuality.

In this sense, we can say that these situations corroborate with the idea of latent homosexuality. This latency is shown through traces that give us the idea that Brick might be queer (as the term adopted by Sinfield). One of the traces given on the play in relation to this homosexuality is the fact that Brick does not maintain sexual intercourses with Maggie, his wife. On the passage below she expresses her feelings concerning this situation:

If I thought you would never, never, never make love to me again – I would go downstairs to the kitchen and pick out the longest and sharpest knife I could find and stick it straight into my heart, I swear that I would! But one thing I don’t have is this charm of defeated, my hat is still in the ring, and I am determines to win! (19)

As this passage indicates Maggie is not willing to give up her marriage and is trying to have her role of a wife played in its full form. As we can see she has a hope that her husband will want her as a woman again. However, seduce him can be considered an arduous task, as she is a woman who is married to a potential homosexual man. As a consequence, this man does not give her any response in relation to her attempts of having her wishes fulfilled.

Besides this avoidance of sex with his wife, another aspect that suggests Brick’s homosexuality, as the true sexuality in his desire is the way in which he describes his relationship with Skipper: “Normal? No! – It was too rare to be normal, any true thing between two people is too rare to be normal” (94). In relation to these lines, we can say that this description is another hint given on the play concerning this “not normal” relationship between Brick and Skipper. This expression, suggests a lot of hidden meanings. It is possible to say that, because homosexuality used to be seen as something unacceptable and consequently “not normal”. In this sense, Sinfield (1994) highlights that this is another provocation made by William on the play (45) in relation to Brick’s homosexuality.

This traces that make the reader believe as true the fact that Brick was really homosexual is increased by closeness that he had with Skipper, which is shown in his words:

Oh, once in a while he put his hand on my shoulder and I’d put mine on his, oh, maybe even, when we were touring the country in pro-football an’ shared hotel rooms we’d reach across the space between the two beds and shake hands to say good night, yeah, one or two times we – (94)

As this passage indicates, there are traces of Brick’s possible homosexuality in his speech when he talks about Skipper to his father. As we can notice, the sentence is incomplete, that is, Brick does not conclude what he was going to say. This blank on his speech is the space that we, readers, have to take our own conclusion concerning Brick and Skipper’s relationship. In other words, we can say that the things that they did together are not shown in a clear way, which gives us the possibility to bridge this gap. Based on all these uncertain traces in relation to Brick’s homosexuality given on the play, Maggie is not able to have an answer for her quest for the truth. However, this is not an entirely negative situation, because as long as she does not know the truth, she will continue to live in a situation of hope in relation to Brick’s heterosexuality. Nonetheless, as soon as she finds out what she is looking for she will have to face an undesired reality. Because of that, her quest for the truth is done in a contradictory way. In order words, she wants to find out the true, but at the same time, she is afraid of what may come after the fulfillment of her wish.

This same confusing quest for the truth seen in the play analyzed above is shown on the poem Prospective Immigrants Please Note. This poem expresses an idea of indecision in relation to a certain attitude that can or not be taken. This idea is expressed by the presence of a door, which can be seen as the passage for discovering something unknown. We can see that there is the option of discovering the truth or keep denying it. The following verses show this possibility of choice:

Either you will
Go through this door
Or you will not go through

As the poem continues, the Lyric I assumes that there would be risks to pass through this door:

If you go through
There is always the risk
Of remembering your name.

These risks can be seen as the discomfort that truth can bring to the ones that discover it. That is because this so much desired truth can be associated with unpleasant things. In this sense, people usually do not want to be exposed to it because sometimes it can be too cruel. Moreover living in lies seems to be easier. That is because we can choose on what we want to believe. Truth, on the contrary has only one side, and if it is faced becomes part of life, that is, it is constantly remembered.

It is possible to say that the quest for the truth can be accompanied by many doubts. This uncertainty is a consequence of the fear that people feel when they have contact with what is unknown. The presence of doubts in this quest can be read on the third stanza “Things look at you doubly” (v. VII). In this sense, we can assume that the quest for the truth can be considered an attitude that touch many internal fears that are intrinsic to human beings. Although there is this fear in relation to the truth, the search for it is a necessary task in our lives. The lyric I, in this sense, points out that “we must look back, and let them happen.(v. VIII and IX)

Although the lyric I suggests that the truth must be known, it also understands the fact that not searching for it can be a more comfortable option:

If you do not go through
It is possible
To live worthily

This life that is worthy living does not have the conflicts that the truth can bring. On the end of the poem the lyric I remind us that the truth makes no promises. That means that we can not assume that it will be better than a reality based on falsehood.

In this sense, we can understand Maggie and the lyric I’s attitude in relation to questing the truth. Their cautious behavior is a consequence of their fear in relation to finding out something that will not correspond to their wishes. In this sense, we can say that this fear make them adopt a very contradictory behavior. This contradiction is shown through the conflicting way they deal with the possibility of discovering the truth and suffer with a not pleasant reality.

Either you will
Go through this door
Or you will not go through

If you go through
There is always the risk
Of remembering your name.

Things look at you doubly
And you must look back
And let them happen.

If you do not go through
It is possible
To live worthily

To maintain your attitudes
To hold your position
To die bravely

But much will blind you,
Much will evade you,
At what cost who knows?

The door itself
Makes no promises.
It is only a door

Reference:

Rich, Adrienne. Adrienne Rich’s Poetry and Prose: Poems, Prose and Reviews and Criticism. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company. 1993.
Sinfield, Alan. Cultural Politics – Queer reading. University of Pensilvanis Press. London. 1994 .