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Act Two, Part 3 

Summary

The scene jumps ahead to the next afternoon. Everything is back to normal except for Stanley’s absence, but he returns before dinnertime. He tells them he was about to enlist but realized that his family needed him more. He worried that Kate really wouldn’t forgive him if he walked out on them now. Stanley asks Kate if can come back home and then apologizes to Jack. He has already started to earn back the money he lost and he vows to live by the code of hard work and principles, which he learned from Jack. Jack then shifts the topic to the upcoming war. His older brother was killed in World War I at the age of nineteen. Jack idolized his brother the way that Eugene idolizes Stanley. Jack says he would forgive Stanley anything and shares that he lost money gambling too, as a way of showing Stanley that he is not perfect. 

Jack tells Stanley he is a good son, but he needs to apologize to Kate and Blanche, and thank Eugene for sticking up for him. In their room, Stanley gives Eugene a picture of a naked woman.

As Kate and Blanche get ready for dinner, Jack walks in holding a letter. His cousin’s family managed to escape Poland and are on the way to the United States. The family begins to make plans to put the refugees up in the house. Eugene ends the play by noting in his memoirs that his puberty is over.

Analysis

The end of Act Two ties up the family drama when Stanley returns home and is welcomed back. Further, Jack speaks to his son frankly about his own imperfections, reflecting that father and son are about to embark on a new, more open relationship. Stanley is no longer a child and is ready to drop the false concept of his father as a person who never does anything wrong. Jack understands that Stanley needs to see him as both a father and a fallible person. Jack’s health scare also has made him more cognizant of his vulnerability. He may not always be around to teach his sons. By setting Stanley on the best path for adulthood, he ensures that Eugene will get there, too, when the time is right.

The play ends on an appropriate note for a drama focused on the domestic sphere. The household rallies around the idea of opening their already overcrowded home to their Polish relatives, who have fled Europe and Hitler. This ending combines domestic troubles with the turmoil of the outside world, giving a broader meaning to the play. Not all is resolved, however. Despite Blanche’s pledge that both of her daughters will help with household chores, the very next day Laurie feels a flutter in her heart, which gets her out of taking out the garbage. How they will pay their bills is also unclear—especially with more people in the household—though Stanley resolves to ask his boss for a raise. And Eugene still lacks understanding of what it means to be an adult since he equates it merely with seeing a naked woman’s body. But by the end of the play, however, the audience can be certain this family will stick together and work together, always.

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