In "Suddenly Last Summer", Tennessee Williams portrays the external and internal conflict through the complex emotional character, Catharine Holly. She must choose between telling the truth and lying, and between closure and family reputation/legacy. It's hard to imagine that such a young girl would be faced with such a tense mental situation. The juxtaposition between these two compelling desires illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole, in which truths and lies intertwine, blurring the boundaries between the sacred and common sense. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Catharine Holly is conflicted throughout the novel and, despite her protests, is asked to refrain from revealing the truth about Sebastian's death. When all she wants to do is tell the real story of her cousin's death, her mother and brother try to stop her. Early in the book we see that Mrs. Venable had an extremely close bond with her poet son Sebastian, with whom she vacationed every year, but died the previous summer while vacationing in Europe with Mrs. Venable, Catherine Holly. . Ms. Venable's $1 million donation to Lion's View apparently relies on Dr. Cukrowicz institutionalizing and lobotomizing Catherine, who Ms. Venable claims is mentally disturbed. Catherine, during a meeting with Dr. Cukrowicz, claims that she is not bothered but that something has been bothering her since her vacation last summer with Sebastian. Catherine does not remember the specific incident that is causing her this grief. Under pressure from Mrs. Venable (who also goes to Catherine's mother in the form of $100,000 to sign Catherine's commitment papers), Dr. Cukrowicz must decide to continue the operation against the vehement denials of Catherine's madness, or wait to try to find out exactly what happened last summer between Catherine and Sebastian. Here we see the cause of the conflict: Catharine struggles to convince everyone of her truth and pays the price, but the only reason she struggles is because no one is looking for justice, just a story that will satisfy their needs. Catharine Holly's interrupted attempts to tell Dr. Sugar the truth about what happened to Sebastian Venable along the harbor of an Italian resort town, Cabeza de Lobo, have driven her crazy. Sebastian had been protected his entire life by his mother, and he had used her in the last years of his life to procure partners for his sexual appetite. Even Catherine's own brother and mother pester Catharine into revealing the truth they want to hear, not the real one, all for the $50,000 inheritance and the desire to maintain the family's reputation. Due to selfish desires that exceed the already greedy human nature. , Catherine's own family persists and repeatedly attempts to stop her from telling the truth. Catherine does not want to have the lobotomy. The demonstration of greed illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole: the desire to lie is purely selfish. The Holly family would rather sacrifice Catherine's sanity, then lose $50,000 and their reputation. Because Catherine's mother and brother are blinded by greed and insist on being selfish, they fail to see that telling the truth about Sebastian's traumatic death will actually give Catherine the closure she needs. Even under the influence of the truth serum given to her by Dr. Sugar, everyone around her refused to accept her truth. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now...