"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a play about the conventions in society that influence people's lives. Consequently, Tennessee Williams imminently introduces the audience to the subject of mendacity and its malignancy. This is not only shown on a familial level, but on a personal one, too (e.g. the affects of Bricks relationship with Skipper). Instantaneously, it seems the family are a rich landed gentility with strong Southern values: "... feed those precious little things with an oilcloth cover... Ohhh nooo! On Big Daddy's birthday?" Ostensibly, the Pollits are the embodiment of the "American dream" (health, wealth and happiness). However, in the overcharged circumstances of the play's 'familial crisis', many truths are revealed: the desperate fear of death, hidden guilt, isolation, the inability to face the truth and materialism. The latter is most notably symbolised by the many "no-neck monsters" Mae and Gooper have produced. Due to this, Williams inevitably exposes the hidden 'truth' (i.e. the Pollits are merely examples of a 'failed American Dream'). Aristotle's 'three classical unities" (time, place, action – notable in the text before Act II and III: "There is no lapse of time" and 'plastic theatre' help to intensify the drama.
             Historically, the Pollits in Southern America, an area that once dominated America both financially and politically. However, after the defeat to the North many factors, including the financial wealth and slave trade of the district, had decreased rapidly. The financial power had swung to the North, who notably have many businessmen and lawyers who posses 'lateral thinking', this is symbolised by Gooper's profession. The defeat was a complete embarrassment to the 'Southerners' and they had been stigmatised to a certain extent. Thus, the strong 'Southern values' were the only pride in which the South divide could hold on to. However, with the pass in time, most imminently these Southern values, ...