From Cat on a Hot Tin Roof wiki
Big Daddy Pollitt
Harvey Pollitt, commonly known as Big Daddy, is the wealthy and domineering patriarch of the Pollitt family whose impending death serves as the primary catalyst for the conflicts in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Background
Big Daddy Pollitt is the owner of a vast twenty-eight-thousand-acre cotton plantation in the Mississippi Delta. Having risen from humble beginnings as an overseer to become one of the wealthiest men in the region, he maintains a gruff, blunt, and often abrasive personality. He is married to Ida Pollitt, whom he frequently belittles, and he holds a complex, often strained relationship with his two sons, Gooper and Brick.
Significance
Throughout the narrative, Big Daddy is believed to be dying of cancer, a diagnosis kept from him by his family until he forces the truth into the open. His impending death drives the plot, as his children compete for his favour and his substantial inheritance. His interactions with Brick, whom he favours despite Brick's alcoholism and detachment, reveal deep-seated emotional wounds and the superficiality of the family's social standing.
