August: Osage County: Act 3, Scene 2 Summary & Analysis

Jean and Steve scamper, giggling, from the kitchen into the dining room. They are sharing a joint and both wearing pajamas. Karen is asleep in the living room on the hide-a-bed, and Bill is asleep on an air mattress in the study. Steve shushes Jean, whispering that she is going to get him busted. The two are behaving flirtatiously, and Jean comments on how strong the marijuana is. Steve offers to shotgun Jean—to blow the marijuana smoke into her mouth. Jean agrees. Steve takes a hit, brings his face close to Jean’s, and blows the smoke into her mouth. Jean begins coughing heavily, and sways on the spot. Steve catches her, groping her breasts.

Jean pulls away from Steve and calls him an “old perv.” Steve asks Jean to show him her breasts. She rebuffs him. He taunts her with the age-old phrase “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” He asks if Jean has ever seen a penis, and Jean claims she has. When he asks if she’s a virgin, she at first says she isn’t, but then admits she “technically” still is. “That,” Steve says, “changes everything,” and he begins to move in closer to Jean. Jean warns him that they are going to get in trouble, but Steve protests that he is “white and over thirty”—he doesn’t get in trouble.

Steve turns off the light and sounds of moaning and heavy breathing can be heard. After a moment, the light clicks back on—Johnna is standing in the entryway from the kitchen, holding a cast-iron skillet. Jean and Steve pull apart from each other, their clothes in disarray. Johnna walks right up to Steve and swings the skillet at him over and over again, eventually hitting him right in the forehead. Throughout the house, everyone else begins to stir.

Karen rushes into the room, alarmed, and goes straight to Steve. She asks him what happened, but Johnna answers for him, telling Karen that Steve was messing with Jean. Karen, though, is only concerned with Steve’s well-being. Bill and Barbara come in and ask what’s going on—Johnna tells them too, that she “tuned [Steve] up” when she caught him kissing and grabbing Jean.

Barbara lunges for Steve, trying to attack him and threatening to murder him. Bill tells Karen to get Steve out of the house. Steve insists he didn’t do anything, and Jean tells her parents to calm down. Barbara shouts to Steve that Jean is only fourteen years old—he counters that she said she was fifteen, which enrages Barbara further. Karen pushes Steve into the living room, and they begin packing their bags and dressing.

In the dining room, Barbara, Bill, Jean, and Johnna reckon with what has just happened. Barbara and Bill tell Jean to take them step-by-step through what happened, but she does not want to “make a federal case” out of things. She tells them that “nothing happened.” When Bill insists he and Barbara are just concerned about Jean, she tells them that they “just want to know who to punish.” She accuses them of not being able to tell the difference between “the good guys and the bad guys,” and using her to sort things out for them.

Barbara insists Jean tell them what Steve did. Jean replies that he didn’t do anything—even if he did, she says, it wouldn’t be a “big deal.” Bill replies that it is a big deal, as she is only fourteen. Jean replies that fourteen is only “a few years younger” than Bill likes his girls. Barbara slaps Jean. Jean bursts into tears and tells Barbara that she hates her. Barbara tells Jean that she hates her, too, and Jean runs away. Bill follows Jean out of the room. Johnna excuses herself and returns to the attic.

Barbara goes into the living room, where Karen is alone, putting the hide-a-bed away. Steve is already outside. Karen tells Barbara to spare her a speech. She is leaving now, with Steve, to return to Florida. Karen warns Barbara that she needs to find out from Jean “exactly” what happened before Barbara starts pointing any fingers. Karen says she “doubts Jean’s exactly blameless” in everything that went on tonight. Karen says that things aren’t black and white all the time—everything is somewhere in the middle. Everyone but Barbara, Karen says, lives in that grey space.

Barbara attempts to say something to Karen, but Karen interrupts her. She says she’s not defending Steve—she knows he’s not perfect, but neither is she. Karen says she’s done things she’s not proud of in her life and admits that she will probably do more things she’s not proud of, because that’s what it is to be a person. Come January, Karen says, she’ll be in Belize. With that, she leaves.

Barbara is alone for just a moment before Bill enters the room. He announces that he is heading back to Boulder and taking Jean with him. Jean is “too much” for Barbara to deal with right now. Barbara admits she has failed as a sister, a mother and a wife. Barbara laments that she can’t make things up to Jean right now—their reconciliation will have to wait until Barbara gets back to Boulder. Bill tells Barbara that she and Jean have forty some-odd years left to make up.

Barbara tells Bill that she knows he’s never coming back to her. He tells her to never say never, but trails off. He implies that he is going to pursue a relationship with the student he’s been seeing. Barbara asks Bill if she will understand why he’s leaving her, and he says she probably won’t. As Bill walks out the door and on to the porch, Barbara calls after him, telling him she loves him. He pauses for a moment, but then leaves. Barbara is alone.