Multigenerational Transmission Process in Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of multigenerational emotional process in Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. This concept is derived from the psychiatrist Murray Bowen’s theory that is called Bowen family systems theory and it includes eight interlocking concepts: differentiation of self, triangles, nuclear family emotional system, family projection process, sibling position, multigenerational emotional process, emotional cutoff, and societal emotional process. The concept of multigenerational emotional process expands the emotional system from the circle of the nuclear family to a larger circle of grandparents and extended family. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is the distinctly multigenerational play in Williams’s drama. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof signifies two noticeable generations representing the transmission of the Southern heritage intergenerationally on both emotional and cultural levels.