How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Page.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue. We used the New Directions edition of the play, published in 1971.
Quote #4
From then on Skipper was nothing at all but a receptacle for liquor and drugs….(I.59,1135-1136)
After Maggie confronts Skipper about his love of Brick, he gradually kills himself through alcohol and drugs. The truth kills him.
Quote #5
BIG DADDY
Where you goin'?
BRICK
I'm takin' a little short trip to Echo Spring. (II.88.600-601)
Brick likens getting drunk to traveling. He is traveling away from reality. The way in which Brick specifies that his trip will be short reminds us that there will be a return and makes us think of the alternative, much longer trip: death. In this way, Brick drinks to approach the peacefulness of death.
Quote #6
BIG DADDY
A whiskey highball would injure this spastic condition?
BRICK
No, sir, it might do it good. (II.92.664-665)
While we know that alcohol is probably the last thing Big Daddy should be drinking, in this moment, with Big Daddy cradled in the lie of his spastic colon, alcohol becomes medicinal and connects the father and son.