Elaine Young Character Analysis

Elaine Young is a real estate agent who serves mostly movie stars. She is among the play’s most privileged interview subjects. Her account of the riots, from which she took shelter in the luxurious confines of the Beverly Hills Hotel, demonstrates her racial and economic privilege. Young talks about meeting with other high society Beverly Hills residents at the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel during the riots, commiserating with one another late into the night during a time when the city was gripped by fears of violence and social collapse. When reporters later interviewed Elaine about her time at the hotel, she spoke nostalgically of her happy associations with the place, recalling trips she took there when her daughter was a young girl. After the interview was released, a man wrote Young a letter, criticizing her sentimental musings and accusing her of trivializing the riots. In her interview with Smith, Young admits to feeling awful about the criticism and insists that it wasn’t her intention to make light of the riots. However, she ends her interview by describing the Beverly Hills Hotel as being “like a fortress” for her and the other people that gathered there, indirectly admitting to her expectation that society will afford places and resources to shield its privileged classes and races from violence and oppression.