Modern literature usually deals with characters who have something they desire or want to achieve in order to move away from the past, their present lives or to gain something. This dream or idea becomes a struggle, mainly because of obstacles, leading to one consequence to another. The shattered dream of wanting to have a healthy life is shown through Yates ‘Revolutionary Road’ and William’s ‘A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’. April and Brick are tragic characters, who are unable to perform the role society gives which not only leads to self-destruction but dysfunctionality in relationships and family.
At the beginning of Chapter 1 in Revolutionary Road, Yates use of flashbacks of the Laurel Players creates an effect of omniscience that they were doomed from the start which intensifies the imminent failure of the group. ‘The final dying sounds’ of the Laurel Players in which ‘from the very beginning were afraid they would end up making fools of themselves’ creates a sense
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The scene takes place in Brick and Maggie’s room in which Williams could be illustrating that there is a continuous reminder of what society expects of them. Nevertheless, Brick and Maggie’s bed is symbolic of the marital tensions between them, suggesting they never make love. This is evident through the use of Williams stage direction, ‘snowy surface of the bed’. The snow is white and white is symbolic of purity which shows the lack of intimacy in their marriage. In addition, Jack Straw and Ochello who built the plantation and were homosexual lovers, had previously occupied Brick and Maggie’s bedroom - ‘a pair of old bachelors who shared this room all their lives together…it is gently and poetically haunted by a relationship that must have involved a tenderness which was common’. The word ‘tenderness’ suggests it was simply rare. This symbolizes Bricks unspoken homosexuality that contributes to his conflict with