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Act 1, Scene 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Intimate Apparel, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Intimacy and Friendship
Race, Class, and Exploitation
Gender and Expectations
The American Dream
Summary
Analysis
It's morning in Mr. Marks's cramped tenement flat. He hurries to put on his suit jacket when he hears a knock on the door and quickly folds up his bedroll. He answers the door and excitedly lets Esther in to show her his new fabric. Mr. Marks pulls down a roll of Japanese silk for the lady on Fifth Avenue. Esther agrees that it's lovely, and Mr. Marks tells her that he'll let her have the extra two yards for "next to nothing." Esther insists that that's still too much money and that the silk would be wasted on her, but Mr. Marks suggests that the "Fifth Avenue lady" cover the cost. Esther says that she could make a shawl, and Mr. Marks suggests a smoking jacket for Esther's gentleman. Esther shyly brushes this suggestion aside.
That Mr. Marks's apartment doubles as his shop indicates that his finances are tight, which begins to show that immigrants can't all afford to make it in America, no matter what the American dream says. The sexual tension between Esther and Mr. Marks is palpable, and this offers some reasoning for why Esther feels the way she does about Mr. Charles: she has some degree of intimacy with Mr. Marks and thus knows what intimacy feels like, and she's reluctant to settle for a situation in which she knows she won't get this kind of closeness.
Themes
Esther runs the fabric across her face and then good-naturedly reprimands Mr. Marks for selling her something she doesn't need. Mr. Marks says he loves sharing quality fabrics with his favorite customers, and he loves that Esther wants different fabrics. They smile warmly at each other until Esther drops her eyes and notices that Mr. Marks is missing a button. He self-consciously returns to talking about the silk. He flirtatiously says that everyone else wants boring wool and points out the gold thread woven through the cloth. He says that he can tell by looking at Esther's hands that she's a gifted seamstress, but Esther says that she didn't have a choice—the alternative was becoming a domestic servant. Mr. Marks says that this is an oversimplification: some people have the hands to sew, while others, like him, do not.
Esther's insistence that she didn't have much of a choice in becoming a seamstress again speaks to the limited options available to black women in this time period, and Mr. Marks's reply doesn't do much to push back on this. Instead, what Mr. Marks is mostly doing is flirting with Esther and flattering her, which continues to build their friendship and their sense of closeness. Esther's comment, however, also reminds the reader that the American dream as represented by New York isn't especially available to her as an American citizen, either.
Themes
Esther laughs and happily strokes the fabric. She sniffs it and asks if it was made with fruit dye. Delighted, Mr. Marks confirms this and says that it was probably created for an empress. Esther happily agrees to buy the fabric and asks Mr. Marks if he's happy now. He declares that he's happy if Esther is. Esther reaches out and squeezes Mr. Marks's hand, but he pulls it away. Esther is shocked and says that her skin color won't rub off. Mr. Marks explains that his religious beliefs don't allow him to touch a woman that's not his wife or a relative. Esther remarks that Mr. Marks's wife must be a very happy woman, but Mr. Marks admits that his fiancée is in Romania and he's never met her.
Mr. Marks takes great comfort and pride in his religious beliefs and the relationships that they allow him to have, both with God and with fellow Jews. While he can be friendly with Esther and even flirt with her verbally, his beliefs mean that he's never going to be able to give Esther the kind of intimacy that they both appear to desire. That Mr. Marks is going along with this arranged marriage shows how, in some cultures, men are subject to the same kinds of expectations that they may or may not enjoy, just like women are.
Themes
