August: Osage County: Act 3, Scene 1 Summary & Analysis

It is nighttime—the window shades have all been un-taped and removed. Karen, Barbara, and Ivy sit in the study, drinking a bottle of whiskey. Charlie, Mattie Fae, Jean, and Steve play cards in the dining room while Bill sorts through paperwork on the porch. Violet is upstairs, looking out the window, her hair wrapped in a towel. Barbara and her sisters are talking about the report from their mother’s doctor, who told them earlier, when they brought her to his office after the debacle at dinner, that she may be “slightly brain damaged.” He claimed not to know that Violet was taking so much medication, and then suggested she be institutionalized.

Karen asks why one doctor would write so many prescriptions, but Ivy cuts her off, telling her that Violet is, and has been for a long time, seeing multiple doctors and securing various prescriptions from each of them. When they threaten to cut her off, she threatens to take legal action and put their licenses in jeopardy, thus assuring that they are in her pocket for life. Barbara asks if Ivy knew that their mother’s old patterns had started up again recently, but Ivy only shrugs.

Barbara marvels at how earlier, at the doctor’s office, Violet was silent and wounded, like a “wilting hothouse flower.” Barbara felt that Violet was trying to make her daughter look like the crazy one at the appointment, and Barbara jokes that she wanted to try and goad her mother into exhibiting some of the crazy behavior she displayed during dinner, going on about the claw hammer and the “Greatest Generation.” Barbara asks what makes her mother’s generation so great before reminiscing with her sisters about the last time their mother got checked into a psych ward and smuggled pills in by stashing a bottle in her vagina. Though the memory is dark, the sisters now laugh about it.

Karen tells Barbara that she’s sorry to hear about her marital strife—she asks Barbara if she thinks she and Bill will get back together. Barbara admits she doesn’t know. Karen admires their own parents for having stayed married for so long. Ivy points out that Beverly killed himself to escape his marriage.

Barbara asks Ivy outright if there is something going on between her and Little Charles, joking darkly that if there is, the two of them “shouldn’t consider children.” Ivy reveals that she couldn’t anyway—she had a hysterectomy last year after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Barbara and Karen are both shocked by the revelation—Ivy says she told no one at the time but Charles, and that’s when things started between them. Barbara asks why Ivy didn’t tell her or Karen—Ivy points out that Barbara hadn’t told either of them about her and Bill. Barbara insists the two things are different—divorce is an “embarrassing public admission of defeat” while cancer is simply cancer.

Barbara says that if Ivy had told them, she and Karen might have been able to offer her some comfort, but Ivy says she doesn’t feel connected to either of her sisters. Karen protests that she feels connected to both of them despite the fact that she’s not ever present. Ivy points out the hypocrisy in Karen’s New-Age-y reply, and states that she doesn’t want to “perpetuate these myths of family or sisterhood” any longer. She feels their whole family is connected only by “a random selection of cells.”

Barbara asks Ivy when she got so cynical; Ivy replies that perhaps it was when she realized that the burden of caring for their parents had fallen entirely to her, as she is the only one who stayed in Oklahoma. Ivy has been stuck here on the Plains while her sisters have gone off and done whatever it is they wanted to do. Ivy reveals that now, at last, it is her turn—she is going to leave for New York soon, and won’t feel any guilt at all. When Barbara asks what Ivy and Little Charles could possibly be planning to do in New York, Ivy replies that the two of them have something rare and extraordinary between them—“understanding.”

Barbara asks Ivy if she feels “comfortable” leaving Violet alone here. Ivy admits that she doesn’t, but also doesn’t want to stick around to see how much worse Violet is going to get without their father. Ivy tells Barbara that she can’t begin to imagine the effect of witnessing such madness and decay for so many years—and even if she could, she could only imagine it from the perspective of the “favorite.”

Barbara tells Ivy that the other day, Violet told her she was Beverly’s favorite. Ivy says that’s not true—Ivy herself was Beverly’s favorite, and Barbara is Violet’s favorite. Barbara is shocked, and Karen is disgruntled to not be anyone’s favorite. Barbara counters that Violet told her that Beverly was heartbroken when she moved to Boulder, but Ivy insists it was Violet who was actually “heartbroken,” not Beverly. 

Karen, taking a stab at Ivy, tells Ivy that she must be taking Beverly’s suicide “kind of personally,” as his favorite. Ivy coolly says that Beverly killed himself for his own reasons—reasons she won’t pretend to know or presume to guess. Ivy says she is sure that Beverly is “better off” now, and doesn’t want to begrudge him that. Barbara, though, says she’s “furious” that Beverly selfishly left them. Ivy implies that Beverly never owed them anything, and perhaps didn’t even like any of them at all. Barbara says she believes Beverly had a responsibility “to something greater than himself,” as everyone does.

Barbara asks Ivy when she and Little Charles are planning on leaving—Ivy says they could be leaving, perhaps, in just a few days. Barbara asks if Ivy is going to tell their mother about the affair, and Ivy answers that she’s trying to figure that out. Ivy tells Barbara that if Barbara is so concerned about Violet, she can stay in Oklahoma herself—Ivy is leaving, and nobody gets to point any fingers at her.

Violet enters the room, shaky but lucid. The girls invite her in and ask her how she’s feeling. Violet is behaving surprisingly normally; she sits with her daughters and tells them how it gives her a “warm feeling” to have all her girls under one roof. She tells them that she has always identified with her girls—no matter how old she gets, she remembers being a girl herself.

Violet begins telling her daughters a story. When she was thirteen or so, she had a crush on a boy from the neighborhood who, though scrawny and goofy-looking, had a pair of incredible leather cowboy boots. The boots gave him self-confidence, and Violet was sure that if she could get a pair herself, he’d ask her to go steady. Violet found the boots in a store window, but of course couldn’t afford them. She began praying for them every night and begging her mother to buy them for her for Christmas. On Christmas morning, a box the size of a boot box, wrapped in nice paper, was under the tree. Violet tore open the box to find that it contained a pair of old, worn men’s work boots caked in mud. Her mother laughed at her, and kept laughing for days.

Barbara tells Violet that the story is so sad it’s making her “wish for a heartwarming claw hammer story.” Violet says that her own mother was a mean woman, and she supposes that’s where she gets her own meanness from. Karen tells Violet she isn’t mean and kisses her on the cheek.

Barbara asks Ivy and Karen to leave the room so that she can talk to Violet alone for a moment, and they oblige her. Barbara apologizes to Violet for losing her temper at dinner and taking things too far. Violet apologizes, too, admitting that she was “spoiling for a fight.” The two call a truce.

Barbara asks Violet if she wants to check into a rehab center, but Violet insists she can get clean alone. She asks Barbara if she got rid of all her pills, and Barbara says everything they could find is gone. Violet insists that will be enough, and after a few days, she’ll be okay. Barbara admits that she can’t imagine what her mother’s going through and offers her any help she needs. Violet, though, begins getting angry, insisting she doesn’t need anyone’s help.

Downstairs, Ivy walks into the living room, where Little Charles is watching TV. She joins him on the couch. Little Charles asks Ivy if she’s mad at him for nearly blowing things—she says she isn’t and takes his hand. Little Charles tells Ivy that he was just trying to be brave—he just wanted to let everyone know that he found the love he always wanted, and isn’t as big a loser as they all think he is. Ivy tells Little Charles that he is her hero.

Little Charles goes over to the electric piano and asks Ivy to come sit beside him. He plays her a love song he’s written for her. In the middle of it, Mattie Fae and Charlie walk into the room and break the spell. She tells Little Charles to get himself together—they are all going home to take care of the dogs. Ivy invites them all to stay at her place, but Mattie Fae insists on going home. She sees that the television is on, and remarks that Little Charles watches so much television he’s rotted his brain. She makes fun of him for watching silly game shows and says it’s too bad there isn’t a job where they pay you to sit and watch TV.

Charlie tries to get Mattie Fae to quit picking on Little Charles, but she will not stop. Charlie raises his voice, telling Mattie Fae that if she says one more thing to Little Charles he is going to kick her into the highway. Mattie Fae, stunned, turns to face Charlie. Charlie tells Ivy and Little Charles to leave the room, and they do. Barbara is about to enter the room, but hearing a fight brewing, she hovers in the doorway unseen instead.

Charlie tells Mattie Fae that he can’t understand her meanness. He is baffled by the way both Mattie Fae and Violet talk to their own family and remarks that his family never treated one another so terribly. Charlie tells Mattie Fae that to tear into Little Charles on a day like today—a day when their family buried a man whom Charlie “loved very much”—dishonors Beverly’s memory. Charlie warns Mattie Fae that if she “can’t find a generous place” in her heart for Little Charles, Charlie himself will leave her. He heads out to the car.

Mattie Fae sees Barbara standing in the doorway. Barbara apologizes for eavesdropping, insisting she simply froze when she heard what was happening. Mattie Fae asks Barbara if Barbara thinks that something is going on between Ivy and Little Charles. Barbara attempts to deflect the question, but Mattie Fae asks Barbara to just come on out with the truth. Barbara confirms her aunt’s suspicions. Mattie Fae says that a relationship between the two of them “can’t happen.”

Barbara points out that both Ivy and Little Charles have both always been different, and perhaps have found solace in one another at last. She then tells Mattie Fae that Ivy and Little Charles are in love—or at least they think they are. Barbara says she knows it’s “unorthodox” for cousins to get together these days and seems to be about to suggest that Mattie Fae give the relationship a chance, but Mattie Fae cuts her off, revealing that Little Charles and Ivy are not cousins.

Mattie Fae tells a shocked Barbara that Little Charles is not Barbara and Ivy’s cousin, but rather their half-brother. Little Charles is Beverly’s child. Barbara asks Mattie Fae if she’s sure, and Mattie Fae says she is. Barbara is stunned that Mattie Fae and Beverly had an affair, and asks who else knows about it. Mattie Fae insists that now that Beverly is dead, it is only she herself and now Barbara who know—Charlie is oblivious.

Barbara asks if Beverly knew that Little Charles was his, and Mattie Fae admits that he did. Barbara asks if it was a one-time thing, if they were drunk, but Mattie Fae reminds Barbara that there is more to her than just “old fat Aunt Mattie Fae.” Mattie Fae admits that she is disproportionately disappointed in Little Charles, but wonders if perhaps she’s more disappointed for him than by him.

Barbara warns Mattie Fae that Ivy will be “destroy[ed]” by this information if it ever reaches her. Mattie Fae says that she herself would never tell Ivy—but begs Barbara to find a way to put a stop to the relationship. When Barbara asks why it has to be her burden, Mattie Fae replies, matter-of-factly, that Barbara said she was “running things.”