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Summary
A half-hour later, Eben is outside; the music and dancing continue inside. Cabot comes up from the barn and asks him why he's not dancing and mentions the pretty girls inside. Eben answers his comments grumpily. Cabot says he should marry, and then he might have his own farm. Eben sneers and mentions his mother, then they again argue about whether the farm belonged to her. Cabot becomes angry, calling him dumb and saying that the farm is "his" now, referring to the baby and Abbie's. He says Abbie told him that Eben was trying to seduce her to get her on his side, that she promised Cabot a son and wanted Eben cut off from the farm. Eben listens with grief and rage and then laughs and says that was her game all along. Then he declares he'll kill her and goes to the porch, but Cabot stops him, and they grapple. Cabot is stronger and puts his hand on Eben's throat. Abbie comes out suddenly and yells at Cabot to stop. He does and flings Eben on the ground. Abbie kneels and puts his head in her lap, but Eben pushes her away. Cabot says he wasn't going to kill him and goes back inside, laughing.
Abbie asks if Eben is hurt and tries to kiss him, but he pushes her violently and curses her. Abbie asks what happened to him. Eben begins to cry and insults her and says she's been lying about everything, that she made a fool of him by having a son with him so Cabot would think it was his in a plan to get the farm. Abbie pleads and says it was before they'd done anything that she wanted vengeance on Eben for seeing Minnie. Eben is enraged and says he'll have vengeance by praying to his mother to come back and curse Abbie and Cabot. Abbie throws herself on her knees and asks him to forgive her. But Eben is fierce and says he'll tell Cabot the truth about the baby and then leave for California, get rich and come back for the farm, and that Abbie and her son will starve. He says he wishes the baby was never born and that he'd die since the baby changed everything. Abbie asks if he believed she loved him before she had the baby, and he answers yes, then she confirms that he doesn't believe it anymore. She asks whether he loved her before the baby versus now, and he confirms he hates her now. He says he's leaving in the morning to go west. Abbie says that she hates the baby if that's what his birth has wrought. Eben says she's lying and that she loves the baby, and that she had him to get the farm. Abbie tells Eben that she'll prove that she loves him. She asks whether he would love her again and stay if she could change things so they were like before, and prove that she was not scheming to steal the farm. Eben is moved and says he probably wouldn't leave but shakes her off. He goes to the door, and Abbie yells after that she'll prove she loves him.
Analysis
In this scene, the conflicting dynamic among the three characters is on display. Although Cabot defended Eben in the previous scene in front of the neighbors, he is once again belittling Eben and is interested in finding ways for Eben to leave the farm since it is clear that Cabot truly has no interest in leaving the farm to him, especially now with the birth of his baby son. Despite their similarities, they each possess a measure of pride and stubbornness that doesn’t allow them to acknowledge them. Their mutual enmity is again displayed as they rehash the old fight about to whom the farm belongs, each claiming it for his own. Once Cabot brings up Abbie and sees how it affects Eben, he is satisfied that he’s bettered Eben and insists that the farm will go to Abbie and the baby. He gloats that Abbie has won and Eben has nothing.
The conversation finally brings them to a physical altercation that has been brewing since the start of the play. Eben fights to get inside, declaring he’ll kill Abbie. Cabot stops him, proving himself physically stronger and more willing to hurt someone else than Eben is. The fight is their relationship in a microcosm. Cabot is able to remove his emotions other than pride from his interaction with Eben. Eben, even if he is younger and fitter, is a more emotionally grounded person and will always lose out to someone like his father. Cabot is triumphant after Abbie breaks them up since he’s bested his younger son. He declares he’ll raise the baby to be like him, ignoring the irony of the truth that he’s raised three sons, none of whom he thinks is good enough. It is, therefore, unclear to anyone but Cabot why this son might be different.
Abbie is unaware of what has been said between Eben and Cabot and doesn’t understand the coldness and hatred that’s come over Eben. The tension between Eben and Abbie from before has returned, and the vitriol with which Eben addresses her shows that some part of him may have doubted her all along. He lashes out, embarrassed being made to declare his love and be vulnerable with her. He's convinced that she only wants the farm, as he suspected before, and doesn't care what Abbie says to the contrary. What frightens Eben the most is the idea that Abbie has lied about loving him and has, then, tricked him into loving her. He comments towards the end of the scene that it isn’t about the farm anymore but about her using him to get a son, illustrating Eben's feelings of betrayal. This scene also shows the degree to which Eben has been dependent on Cabot, even though he doesn't want to be. That he is willing to believe Cabot over Abbie, thus distrusting himself in favor of the cruel assessment that Cabot relates, expresses both his reliance on Cabot as well as the absence of love and care in his relationship with him.
The difference between this interaction and those between them before they declared their love is that Abbie does not fight back or become angry and possessive of the farm. She only tries to convince Eben she loves him and frantically pleads with him. She's terrified when Eben declares that he's leaving, and as the possibility settles in, she becomes quieter. Her questions sharpen, and his answers lead her to declare she hates the baby too. When she desperately puts forward the possibility of things being the same as before the baby came, Eben is moved but cannot see a different path than the one they are on. Abbie’s distress morphs into a kind of resolve, and Eben acts as an audience surrogate, unable to guess what she has decided to do. Eben is not receptive to the intensity with which Abbie is acting and the idea she has, but it seems that she is planning something malevolent. Her love and obsession have turned to immense desperation.
