The Cat and the Mouse

Ganeku, Samantha
English 313 Th 4:20
Professor Wexler
23 October 2008

In Tennessee William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Maggie is often times like a cat in heat; whereas, Nora in A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen is a timid mouse. Both women, however, help keep their households stable while trying to support their family in the present, as well as in the future. The portrayal of these two women is often times a role reversal of traditional notions of the role of women within the family.

Maggie tries to seduce her own husband and offers him a shoulder to lean on physically and metaphorically. Brick gets hurt jumping the hurdles because “people like to do what they used to do, even after they’ve stopped being able to do it” (Williams 44). Maggie tries to care for Brick by offering to help him move around when he drops his crutch. Similarly, Nora tries to take care of her husband Torvald when he becomes sick by taking him away from the stress of their current lives. In both of these situations Simone De Beauvoir would argue that the women are getting their role from the male, such as in a master slave relationship. They are acting on the values that have been ingrained in their psyche as the role of the women in a marriage, that they need to take care of their man when he is down to ensure they recover quickly and then will be able to take over the role once again as the provider.

Ferdinand Saussure’s “Course on Linguistics” can be applied to say in conjunction with De Beauvoir that the values of a traditional wife/mother are a sign and signifier relationship. We hear “wife” and “mother” and automatically get an image of the homemaker. Saussure says the “sign unites, not a thing and a name, but a concept and a sound-image” (78). When the audience is taking in both Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Doll’s House, they come to the plays with ideas of a “good” wife as “domestic, attractive, home-centered” (Barker 307) and a “good” mother who provides for the children and watches over them. When they see Nora and Maggie on the stage they are satisfied and shocked because these characters do not always conform to the audience’s ideas. Maggie and Nora are the signified aspects of the sign; whereas the concept of the mother/wife is the signifier. It is the crashes between traditional values and what is being performed that make the audience reject the characters because of their behavior. Maggie is then called a bitch because of the way tries to better her family’s future and she presents herself as a “sneak, cheat, manipulative” (Barker 307). Nora on the other hand is a Barker’s decoy an “apparently helpless, actually strong” (307) for part of the play while she plays a victim for the later half because of her guilt.

De Beauvoir points out that the woman plays a different role in the master-slave relationship than the “normal” slave, “she is the Other in a totality of which the two components are necessary to one another” (Beauvoir). Both Nora and Maggie are important to the future of their family because without them, the men would not be able to procreate. For Maggie however, it is more important for her to have children because it would help ensure her family’s inheritance when Big Daddy passes away. Maggie tries to keep herself looking attractive for Brick in hopes that one day “[he’ll] see [her] again like other men see [her]” (Williams 32). She becomes the cat in heat because of her need to provide another generation that will ensure the future of her family in a physical way, as well as in an economic way.

Instead of being strong like Maggie, Nora in A Doll’s House looks after her family and strives to save her husband no matter the cost. She takes it upon herself to get a much needed loan, without permission from her husband and knowing how he dislikes loan and how he will eventually feel about her. Nora goes outside of her home and defies her husband, as well as going as far as flirting openly with a family friend. She opposes the will of her husband, even if she is trying to help keep him alive. When she is confronted by her husband she becomes weak. Nora does not stand by her husband after her realizations about her marriage, she leaves. She becomes a timid mouse that runs and hides instead of standing strong. The way Nora is portrayed allows the audience to be able to relate more because of the “circuit of culture” as outlined in Chris Barker’s Cultural Studies. Everyone and everything plays a part in culture and this outlines the interconnected roles going from identity to representation to regulation to consumption to production (60). In Nora, it is easier to relate to the identity created in the representation of a devoted and stressed wife who wants the best for her family. This representation is then regulated and modified in the eyes of the consumer, thus producing a response or critique to the work so more identities can be created or enhanced.

Maggie and Nora both challenge the traditional views of the woman, wife and mother. Together they help reshape the public’s view by presenting an over sexualized cat and a timid, skittish mouse.


Works Cited

Barker, Chris. "Cultural Studies." London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2008.

de Beauvoir, Simone de. “Introduction: Woman as Other,” The Second Sex. 28 Jan 2006. Marxists.org. 13 Oct. 2008. (Williams)

Saussure, Ferdinand. “Course in General Linguistics,” Structuralism and Linguistics.

Williams, Tennessee. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. London: Signet Drama, 1958.

Spokespeople

Watching the news lately one can't help but notice with the type of stories that are being aired, that there is an abundant number of spokespeople that have no clue what is going on. In particular an officer acting as a spokesperson during a high speed pursuit cannot confirm anything about the pursuit, the suspect, or the events leading up to the chase, all he can say is "i have no information"....what is your job? Is it not to provide information to the public in hopes of helping ensure their safety as well as satisfying our nosy/curious natures? I thought so, in fact, I assumed that was part of the description of the job. But you know what they say about assuming things...

What happened to happy news?? We have fires, dead bodies in pools, suicidal car chases, but nothing about furry animals (happy news...not of them being beaten or killed) or some outstanding citizen or young adult.

"it's the mother f---ing times" for sure that can explain this I suppose. but is that in no way an excuse to be slacking on your job if you are hired to provide information to the public.

Luda to Tina

After a few days of recovery, I've had time to reflect on my recent concert experiences. It's funny really because of the two extreme experiences that were not entirely what I expected.

First I went with some friends to the Big Show 8 concert at CSUN featuring Ludacris. While the company was great...the crowd was a severe pain in the ass. Never have I met a group of people that were rude or so friendly. Either people were pushing you or standing on top of you to get closer or they were yelling at those people along with you. Either way the concert was pretty good and was pretty much what one would expect.



Tina, Tina, Tina...what a river. That woman is amazing. How old is she and her body looks that good? AND!! she can jam in heels for 3 hours?!? I wish I could do that now! The concert was great. Tina was great. The dancers great. The crowd?? More drunk and rude people than you would expect. "Bitch" being thrown everywhere. More beer and seat hoppers than the most out of control hip-hop concert. It was pretty amazing.

One would think that between the two concert the Oxygen masks and the Back Boards from the Ludacris concert...well my dear friends, you would be wrong. They had to bust those out for those crazy Tina fans! Seriously a once in a lifetime experience. =D

i was hoping to share some videos but blogger.com isn't responding. so check back a little later. meanwhile, i'ma go eat some ice cream!!

Someone to Watch Over You

Though I'm not a very spiritual or religious person, some conversations make me believe that some people have guardian angels or someone looking out for them. Recently a family member of one of my mom's co-workers got in a horrific accident that could have taken many lives. This woman blacked out (how or why, yet to be determined), drove into a gas station, hit a gas pump and her car lit on fire. Even though she was trapped in her car for about 3 minutes, she came out without a single burn on her body, though her shoes and purse were completely charred. On any other day there would have been bikers taking their normal route and possibly someone at that gas pump. Luckily, that day was different and because of it, everyone came out relatively okay. It is amazing that she came out alive and yet even more amazing that she is physically unharmed. Yet another family friend has had tragedy strike his family and had an almost near death experience himself this year. He has done the unthinkable, stayed strong, and stood by and lent aid to someone who could have caused his death due to her distraught emotional state to carry on his son's legacy. Things like this makes me realize that we have someone looking out for us from time to time or even that we have another purpose that has yet to be fulfilled. They even make me have faith that there are good and strong people out there that will remain optimistic

In times like this last week where wildfires are rapidly spreading, numerous properties are in danger, and the economy on extremely shaky ground, we need to be thankful for what we have and if you will, what we are blessed with. Whether you are religious or not, thankfulness, gratefulness, and understanding are valuable qualities and assets to hold onto when the safety and security of more physical assets are in danger. Lets be thankful for what we have today because we never know when it might be taken from us.

Kanye West and Patrick Bateman

Funny enough, today in my Literature and Film class we briefly brought up the discussion of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. We briefly touched upon the idea that no one actually wants to be Patrick Bateman but the movie portrays an interesting view of Dystopia. It's kind of funny how we don't want to be Bateman as a psycho killer but we will become a version of him as a byproduct of consumerism.

Today, relaxing at home, I turn on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. None other than Kanye West is sitting in the chair next to the host talking about the influences for his new music video Love Locked Down. Interestingly enough, he says some of the influence came from Patrick Bateman.




We can see from the opening scene a resemblance to Bateman's Aparment as in this clip



The following videos is where he talks about the influences,



In addition to the clip showing Kanye's inspiration, here is a quote from an article about today's appearance on the Ellen show:

After Kanye West unveiled the new video
for his single "Love Lockdown" on "The
Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Tuesday (October 7),
he admitted that the clip's modern look
was inspired by a chainsaw-wielding maniac.

"On this album, I kind of embody Patrick
Bateman from 'American Psycho,' " he joked
on the show, adding, "You know at the end
of the movie [that] he didn't really kill
anyone. [I just liked] the clean aesthetic
and the way he was all about labels. I
wanted to express all of that in the video."

from Jocelyn Vena on Love Locked Down

Focusing on "artistic communities" we can see the materialism and consumerism that surrounds these aspects of culture and how it "bleeds" into every day society. For example, the materialism that we see associated to being "popular" and being a "celebrity". Once a name is associated with a brand, such as Michael Jordan, he becomes a commodity, and I think in the business world that Patrick Bateman lives in is very much this. His status as "fitting in" depends on his wearing the right suit and being seen in all the right places. With the "Hip-Hop community" it is also about looks and the right brand, otherwise it wouldn't matter if P. Diddy put his name behind this band or Kanye West decided to produce this song. Without their names on these records, backing these bands, there is a good chance that no one would care or even pay attention. There are so many "underground" and "indie" bands that never see the popular radio waves because they have yet to be discovered by some popular producer or record label.

We as consumers strive for recognition, especially in our teen years for the things we wear, realizing this, ad campaigns such as cigarette ads (in the past), cereal ads, shoe ads, etc. are tailored to appeal to younger generations. We, then become byproducts much like Bateman because some children will do anything to get their material needs met. Watching "Keeping Up With the Karashians" this weekend reminds me of this. One of the younger, less known daughters, Kendall (i believe) was
given chores to earn money to buy the latest thing she saw at the mall. Instead of doing the chores, she hired someone else at a lesser rate to do the same job, thus getting the chores done and making the money she needed to get what she wanted.

The need to have our consumer needs meet and our materialistic needs indulged, does cause us to lose a part of morality and sense of obligation because we become more focused on what we appear to be than what we really are. When people graduate from high school and some times college, the realization hits that we have not really done anything with our lives because we have just been going through the motions and making other people happy with the external self instead of our inner self.