August: Osage County: Act 2, Scene 1 Summary & Analysis

The house has been cleaned and straightened. The hodgepodge of books and papers in the office have been rearranged, and the dining room table has been set for a nice dinner, complete with china, candles, and a floral centerpiece. There is a “kid’s table,” set for two, set up in the corner of the dining room. It is three o’ clock in the afternoon, and Beverly Weston has just been buried. Violet is standing in the study in a black dress. She is sober, for the moment, but holds a bottle of pills in her hand. She speaks in a monologue, directly to Beverly, remarking on how August was always his month. She takes pills, flips through his books of poetry—the most famous of which is dedicated to her—and proclaims that she will not weep for him. This mess is his to answer for, she says, not hers.

In the dining room, Barbara and her sister Karen fold napkins and place them on the table. Karen babbles on and on about her newfound commitment to living in the present moment. After years of pining for a man, and dating loser after loser, Karen has finally met Mister Right—an older man named Steve who is “kinda country club” but is good to her. Every time Barbara interjects, Karen keeps talking over her sister, extolling the joys of living in the “now” and never planning for the future. Karen has had a fantasy of going to Belize all her life, and now Steve is going to take her there on her honeymoon after she is married—Karen cannot believe her good luck.

Johnna brings a pitcher of iced tea from the kitchen. Barbara is grateful for it—she is having a hot flash. Karen brings the conversation back to her own impending trip to Belize. She asks Barbara what she thought of Steve when she met him at the funeral—Barbara insists she only spoke two words to Steve, and couldn’t really get a read on him. Karen asks Barbara if she’ll come to the wedding, which will be in Miami, Florida on New Year’s Day. Karen tells Barbara that though the years have led them apart, she wants to get closer with Barbara. When Barbara tells Karen they need to have a talk about their mother, though, Karen deflects, saying that now that she has found happiness she wants to “get to know” her own family.

Upstairs, Violet, Mattie Fae, and Ivy—who is dressed in a black suit—look through a box of old photographs. Violet shows Ivy photos of pretty dresses she used to own and berates Ivy for wearing a suit to the funeral. When the women find a picture of Violet and Beverly in New York City on Beverly’s first book tour, Mattie Fae remarks that her son, Little Charles, has been talking about moving to New York, but she thinks he wouldn’t last a day in the city. After all, she says, he overslept for his own uncle’s funeral. Ivy attempts to defend Little Charles, but Mattie Fae tells her not to make excuses for him. He’s thirty-seven years old, unable to drive, and obviously a large source of shame and anxiety for Mattie Fae.  

Violet goes to her closet and gets a dress for Ivy to try on. Ivy refuses to try the dress on and asks Violet why she’s trying to give away her clothes. Violet says she’s “downsizing,” and is going to get rid of everything she doesn’t need anymore—anything that reminds her of how old she’s become. Violet tells Ivy that if she doesn’t learn how to dress she’ll never attract a man. Ivy replies that she already has a man, shocking both Violet and Mattie Fae, who immediately start asking her who her “man” is. Ivy says she’s not telling either of them anything. When Violet asks Ivy if she’s in love, Ivy lets out a strange, shrill laugh, and goes downstairs.

In the kitchen, Bill, Jean, and Karen’s boyfriend Steve are returning from a grocery run. Jean runs into the house and goes straight to the television, turning it on and sitting close to the screen. Steve is telling Bill about his business—which is shady and nebulous, and seems to have something to do with security, the Middle East, and offshore accounts. Barbara asks Jean what she’s watching on TV—Jean is watching a restored version of the 1925 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. Barbara berates Jean for having been concerned about getting home to watch it all day long—even in the middle of the funeral.

Barbara leaves the room, and Steve comes in. He starts talking to Jean about the movie, which he’s clearly knowledgeable about—Jean seems impressed. Steve asks how old she is, and she answers that she is fifteen. Steve gets close to Jean, telling her he smells pot on her. She denies smoking. Steve remarks that it is hot in the room, and tells Jean she must be hot, too. He asks Jean once again if she smokes pot—when she denies it, he says it’s a shame, since he has some “really tasty shit” on him. Jean immediately relents, revealing that she is out of weed and needs some more; she wants to get “fucked up.” Steve teases her, asking her to repeat what she wants to do again and again. When she tells him he’s “bad,” he insists he’s just teasing her.

Karen enters the room and asks Steve if he remembered to get cigarettes—he laments the fact that he forgot. Jean says they can bum some off her. Karen tell Jean that she’s too young to smoke, but then asks Jean for some cigarettes anyway. Jean gives Karen a couple, and then Karen, overwhelmed by the heat, asks Steve to join her in the backyard so that they can smoke, and she can show him her and her sisters’ old fort. Steve follows Karen out, promising Jean he’ll “hook [her] up later” before rubbing his hand on her face.

Out on the porch, Charlie arrives with Little Charles. Little Charles worries that his mother will be furious with him for missing the funeral. He assures his father that he set his alarm but says that the power must have gone out. Charles worries that Uncle Bev’s spirit will be disappointed in him for missing the event. Charlie reassures Little Charles that Uncle Bev wasn’t spiteful like that. Little Charles cries, and Charlie comforts him. Little Charles says he knows that the whole family says things about him and doesn’t want to bring any more ire upon himself. Charlie tells Little Charles that everyone else in the family just hasn’t gotten the chance to see what Little Charlies is really like. He urges Little Charles to stop being so hard on himself. They tell one another that they love each other, and together they enter the house.

Barbara and Bill are in the dining room, arguing. Barbara accuses Bill of being an absent parent to Jean and encouraging her to act older than her age. Barbara begs Bill to “be a father” and help her raise their daughter. As the two argue further, their digs at one another become pettier and pettier, and eventually they devolve into arguing about the correct tense of a verb. Bill accuses Barbara of fighting unfairly and erratically. Barbara says she’s sick of being fair—her world is “falling apart.” Bill accuses Barbara of dragging Jean into this “madhouse” in the first place and using her as a “buffer.” As Barbara attempts to bring up Bill’s affair, Bill deflects, telling Barbara that she is “good, decent, funny, wonderful [and a] pain in the ass” before exiting to the porch.

Johnna announces that dinner is ready, and the entire family makes their way to the dining room. Their conversations overlap with one another—Karen tells Barbara about how she just showed Steve their old fort, Little Charles attempts to apologize to Mattie Fae for missing the funeral, and Ivy fights off Violet’s persistent inquiries into the state of her romantic life. 

Bill comes back in from the porch and goes to get Jean from the living room. She asks if she can eat in front of the TV; she doesn’t want to get stuck at the kid’s table with Little Charles. Bill tells her she needs to be on her best behavior, and she reluctantly follows him into the dining room. Little Charles, having grown indignant about being made to sit at the kids’ table, has gone to retrieve a casserole his mother made from the car. Johnna volunteers to sit at the kids’ table, insisting she doesn’t mind.

As Little Charles comes back up to the house from the car, Ivy meets him on the porch. He apologizes for missing the funeral, and for not being there for Ivy on “one of the worst days of [her] life.” She cuts him off mid-sentence, insisting they don’t have to ever apologize to one another. She hugs him and kisses him on the mouth. Little Charles pulls away, warning Ivy that she is breaking their rule. Ivy reveals that her family is “on to her”—she wants Little Charles to know she told her mother that she’s seeing someone, but didn’t specify who, in case it comes up. She reminds Charles that they need to let their family know about them “piece by piece.” 

Back in the dining room, everyone but Violet, Little Charles, and Ivy is seated at the table. The men have removed their suit coats. As the family passes food around and makes their plates, Little Charles enters. Almost immediately, he drops Mattie Fae’s casserole. She screams at him, but Charlie urges her to “let it go.” Charlie tries to pass the chicken to Jean, but she says she doesn’t eat meat. Violet enters with a picture of Beverly, which she places on the sideboard before taking her seat. Remarking upon the fact that all the men are in their shirts, she says she thought they were all have “a funeral dinner, not a cockfight.” Without a word, the men put their jackets back on, despite the heat.

Violet tells Barbara to say grace in Beverly’s absence, but Barbara insists that Charlie, now the family’s patriarch, should be the one to do so. Charlie delivers a wordy, stumbling prayer, and then everyone begins eating.

Violet, pointing out the sideboard, asks Barbara if she wants it—she tells Barbara, as she told Ivy earlier, that she is clearing out the house, getting rid of old things. Barbara says she is “not prepared” to talk about taking her parents’ furniture. Everyone compliments Johnna on the delicious meal—Violet, slurring her words, says that it’s what Johnna’s being paid for.

After an awkward silence, Charlie begins ribbing Jean about her vegetarianism. Jean insists that when you eat an animal, you “ingest [its] fear,” but everyone just makes fun of her. Violet, misquoting a famous T.V. commercial, begins screeching “Where’s the meat?” Everyone freezes watching her, “stunned” by her odd behavior.

The conversation turns to the service. Everyone agrees that it was a nice funeral, but Violet insists there was too much talk about Beverly’s poetry and teaching. She tells a vile story about Beverly soiling himself at a university function, illustrating how Beverly’s defining traits at the time of his death were not his academic or artistic successes, but his deep devotion to drinking above all else. Steve attempts to tell Violet that he thought the poems of Beverly’s which Bill read at the funeral were beautiful, but Violet is confused as to who, exactly, Steve is, and she asks him his name.

When Karen reminds Violet that Steve is her fiancé, Violet remarks that it is “peculiar” of Karen to bring a “date” to her father’s funeral. Karen insists that she and Steve are getting married and invites Violet to the wedding in Miami. Violet says she “[doesn’t] really see that happening” before asking Steve about his romantic history. When Steve reveals that he has been married three times already, Violet turns to Mattie Fae and begins laughing, saying she had Steve “pegged.”

Karen attempts to change the subject, telling Violet about how she took Steve out to see the fort where she, Barbara, and Ivy used to play cowboys and Indians. Violet corrects Karen, telling her she used to play “cowboys and Native Americans.” Barbara, seeing her mother’s deepening intoxication, asks Violet what pills she took. Right at that moment, Charlie drops his head, appearing to be choking or in distress. As everyone’s panic mounts, he rises out of his chair, before announcing that he “got a big bite of fear.” Everyone laughs. Barbara jokes that every once in a while she catches Jean eating a hamburger. Jean, indignant, calls Barbara a liar. Violet intensely tells Jean that if she herself had ever called her own mother a liar, her mother wouldn’t “knocked [her] goddamn head off [her] shoulders.”

After an awkward silence, Violet asks Bill if he has found any “hidden treasure” in Beverly’s office. Bill reveals that he found out the Beverly appeared to be working on some new poems. Though Karen is interested in hearing more, Violet steers the conversation to Beverly’s will. She tells her daughters that though in the written will, everything of Beverly’s goes to the girls, she and Beverly had discussed changing things and leaving it all to Violet herself. Though they never got around to “legally” altering the will, Violet announces her intention to take the money. Violet offers the girls the furniture instead, saying she’ll sell it to them for less than she would at an auction. Barbara suggests that Violet will never get around to the auction, and they’ll all just take the furniture once she dies. “You might at that,” Violet replies, and the two stare one another down.

Little Charles attempts to ask Bill about the poems he found, but Violet interrupts and asks Bill where he’s living, and whether he wants the sideboard—she has intuited that Bill and Barbara are separated. She chides Barbara for thinking she could “slip that one by [her],” stating that no one slips anything by her. She reveals that she herself and Beverly split a couple times, and cruelly tells Barbara that there’s just no competing with a younger woman. Violet asks Bill if a younger woman is involved; Barbara attempts to change the subject, but Bill frankly admits that there is.

Charlie asks Violet why she’s being so “adversarial,” but she insists she’s just telling the truth. Barbara admonishes Violet for “viciously attack[ing]” the entire family. Violet stands up and begins screaming—she says that Barbara has never been truly attacked once in her “sweet spoiled life.” She urges Mattie Fae to tell Barbara what a real attack looks like. Mattie Fae attempts to quiet her sister down, but Violet refuses. She begins telling a story about how Mattie Fae rescued her, once, when one of their mother’s “many gentleman friends” was attacking her with a claw hammer. She claims that Mattie Fae still has dents on her head from the encounter. She asks Barbara what Barbara knows about life “on these Plains.” Barbara admits that she knows her mother had a hard childhood, but somewhat provocatively asks “who didn’t.”

Violet tells Barbara that her heart breaks for “every time [Barbara] ever felt pain,” but that Barbara cannot imagine the pain of Violet’s own childhood, or of Beverly’s. She reveals that Beverly, from the ages of four to ten, lived with his family in a Pontiac sedan. Violet says she and Beverly worked hard and sacrificed everything for her girls, who have done nothing with their lives in return. They never had any real problems, Violet says, so the three of them have gone around making up problems all their lives. Barbara asks Violet why she is continuing to scream at everyone. Violet answers that it’s time their family told some truths.

Little Charles abruptly stands up. He announces that he, too, has a truth to tell. Ivy quietly begs Little Charles to sit back down—“not like this,” she says to him. He tells his family that his “truth” is that he forgot to set his alarm clock for this morning, and then goes out to the porch. Mattie Fae says she gave up on Little Charles a long time ago. Ivy quietly says that his name is just Charles. Violet pats Ivy’s hand, calling her a “poor thing,” and lamenting how Ivy always roots for the underdog. Ivy begs her mother not to be mean to her, but Violet continues.

Barbara tells Violet that she’s a drug addict. Joyfully, Violet shouts, “That is the truth!” She pulls a bottle of pills out her pockets and tells her whole family that her pills are her “best fucking friends.” If anyone tries to take them away from her, she says, she will eat them alive. Barbara lunges for the pills, and Violet screams that she will eat Barbara alive. They wrestle on the floor, while the others try to pull them apart.

Eventually, Barbara wrestles the pills away from a sobbing Violet. She announces that she is starting a pill raid and instructs Ivy and Bill to go upstairs and start going through “everything” Violet owns. She orders Karen to call Dr. Burke and tell him that they have a “sick woman” on their hands. Violet cries that Barbara can’t do this—this is Violet’s house. “You don’t get it, do you?” Barbara asks, getting in Violet’s face, towering over her. With a triumphant scream, Barbara tells Violet that it is she is running things now.