Linear Readings of Cat

David Miall’s article “Episode structures in literary narratives” (JLS 33 [2004]) argues the following:

texts have typically, in the context of close-textual analysis, been read in terms of repeated components and vertical/symbolic depth (e.g., focus on organizing metaphors, recurrent motifs, shifts in point of view between characters), but not in relation to linear parts of a narrative (Miall 111)

if text structure has been considered in a linear sense, as unfolding in relation to a reader’s experience or absorption of events, then one of the following two modes has usually been employed (112)

Typical Linear Readings mode one: analysis of sentences themselves and sentence

patterns, focusing on such aspects as stylistic effect, expression, ironic undercutting of previous statements or sentences, etc.; demonstrated well by older reader-response criticism of Stanley Fish (c. 1980; “affective stylistics”)

mode two: analysis of plot structure itself, with focus on rising action, the climax, resolution, etc. (e.g., the three-act organization of many dramas, Cat included)

Miall, in contrast, proposes as more effective a mid-range linear reading that focuses on “the episode” or a series of episodes interconnected in some way and sustaining the reader’s focus or attention (he uses the example of Kate Chopin’s 1894 “Story of an Hour” to demonstrate, subdividing the text into several episodes, such as the protagonist’s discovery of her husband’s death, her recuperation in the upstairs room, the husband’s return, etc.)

Episodes & Cat

Miall defines “the episode” as “a thematically distinctive topic requiring a shift [or development] in the reader’s understanding [of a text]” (112), the overall goal of an episode being two things:

the establishing of a “setting or concern”

“motivat[ion of]…reader interest in the next episode, which it thus [the previous episode] helps to launch”

Applied to Williams’ Cat, such episode analysis may allow for new discoveries, and may shed light on the “truth of experience” that Williams wishes to capture, particularly through the noisier scenes in the drama (while Miall’s primary concern is how a reader’s response develops, our concern is the response itself that has developed)

Mimesis & Cat

Before connecting Miall’s theory of the mid-range “episode” with Cat, consider that Williams’ understanding of experience/truth is similar to Aristotle’s understanding of “mimesis”

in Poetics (4th cent. BC), Aristotle defines tragedy (and drama more broadly) as the noblest form of literature, further suggesting that mimesis should be the main goal of drama, and to a lesser extent of lyric poetry too (“Narrative Theory”: online)

mimesis is for Aristotle the imitation not of people but of an action that, in a given situation, we can realistically expect people to engage in

Now, consider the main, mid-range episodes in Cat before responding to a few questions that connect mimesis with several of those episodes in Williams’ drama

Episode Outline of Cat

Each act of the drama consists of two main episodes:

Act I: Maggie’s seductive (and catty) interaction with Brick while he is on the sofa; Maggie’s confrontation with Brick regarding Skipper, that brings the birthday party upstairs (opening of Act II)

Act II: Big Daddy’s confrontation with Big Mama around (literally) the birthday cake; Big Daddy’s serious talk with Brick that introduces the topic of “mendacity” and then transitions into Act III

Act III: the talk that the Pollitt family members have with Big Mama, regarding the truth of Big Daddy’s illness; Big Daddy’s return and final exit that revolves around Maggie’s “pregnancy” (interwoven with mention of mendacity again, and the obscene elephant joke)

Questions to Discuss

1. What is the significance of such (double) episodic structures per act?; Do episodes mirror one another, both internally within the same act and externally, in relation to episodes in other acts?

2. Is Big Daddy’s return in Act III (mimetically) believable?; Further, how does the return compare with previous episodes in the other acts (i.e., how does the process of “return” function in the drama; what is being returned to what)?

3. What episodes do we focus on when reading the drama, and does this influence our acceptance, or dismissal, of the drama’s attempt at realism?

Comment on Echo Spring

Sampling Echo Springs will not influence one to write great literature or to spontaneously understand Jazz music. This is bourbon of the masses; proletarian, working class liquor that does not offend but on the other hand is simple and lacks on the inspiration[al] side. There is simply not a lot […] to get out of a three year old 80 proof bourbon. This is not a sipping bourbon…this low end offering [should be relegated] to the manufacture [of] mixed drinks. - Refinedvices.com