“'I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished,' declares the LORD” (Amos 3:15). I first encountered the phrase, “tearing down the great house,” as a description of Faulkner’s writings on literal and metaphorical dilapidation of the Plantation ethos. It derives from a Biblical quote on God’s punishment of the Israelites’ idolatrous transgressions. In the plantation context, the great house is the plantation that serves as a constant metaphor for hypocritical artifice of perfection and grandeur amidst decay. Tennessee Williams’, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," “tears down the great house,” by problematizing the antiquated stereotype of the Southern gentleman, and its heteronormative implications. However, Williams’ true genius lies in his redefinition of the, “great house,” as not one, but a widespread system of houses plagued by mendacity. The selected quotes are the closing lines from, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," that summarize the inevitability of mendacity, as a plague that is not specific to the South, but an endemic human institution within a succinct closing statement. In the third act, Mae, Gooper, and Maggie vie for the remains of Big Daddy’s economic empire. Maggie presents Big Daddy with the news of her imminent pregnancy, an obvious lie, but one to Big Daddy’s great pleasure. Though aware of Maggie’s falsification, Brick acquiesces through his silence. This active silence establishes complicity and underscores positive progress in Brick’s relationship to Maggie by signaling his renewed support via the perceptibly gallant gesture (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Act 3, pg. 171). As the couples drift back to their respective rooms, Maggie hides the alcohol and hurls Brick’s crutch over the rail to pin him beneath her unrestricted sexual advances. However, Maggie’s act of removal, though physically compelling, fails to capture the same metaphorical weight of exposing the, “real,” Brick, because Brick has already internalized his escape via, “the click.” MARGARET: And so tonight we’re going to make the lie true, and when that’s done, I’ll bring the liquor back here and we’ll get drunk together, here, tonight, in this place that death has come into-What do you say? BRICK: I don’t say anything. I guess there’s nothing to say. MARGARET: Oh, you weak people, you weak, beautiful people! –who give up with such grace. What you want is someone to- [She turns out the rose-silk lamp.] –take hold of you.-Gently, gently with love hand your life back to you, like somethin’ gold you let go of. I do love you, Brick, I do! BRICK [smiling with charming sadness]: Wouldn’t it be funny if that was true?" (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Act 3, pg. 173). Maggie’s panting emulates the physicality of carnal displays. Williams’ stage directions lend to the sense of hastily muffled sexual excess as the urgency of Maggie’s panting is quickly composed into a proposition. However, the urgency remains evident through the line’s haphazard grammatical structure as a run-on sentence fragment until the interjection of the question, “-What do you say?” The use of commas, rather than periods, or other finite grammatical indicators emulates the spontaneity and chaos of a thought train. Because the line doesn’t end, but merely pauses with the commas, the sections of independent clauses will be examined individually before being combined for a holistic examination of the line. Maggie begins, “And so tonight we’re going to make the lie true,” utilizing a declarative independent clause. The use of, “and so,” as a prelude to the thinly veiled imperative is an equalizing measure that the character uses to deflect the authority that such a statement automatically entails. “And so,�