Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews April 4, 2023 March 28, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Rocky turns on the lights and opens the bar. Margie and Pearl, Rocky "tarts" appear. Margie attempts to seduce a passed-out Parritt. The girls joke with Rocky and hand over the night's earnings. Rocky hardens when Pearl teases that he is their pimp. They quickly make up. Rocky is no pimp and they are certainly no whores.
They chat about their friends Cora, another "tart," and her pimp Chuck, who have long nursed a pipe dream about getting married and buying a farm. Pearl jokes that Cora does not even know which end of the cow has horns. The lovers appear. It quickly becomes apparent that Cora's professional history and Chuck's habit would be a point of contention in their marital life. Parritt remarks aside to Larry that if he had know whores would be about, he would not have come: he hates every woman who has ever lived. Cora tells how she rolled a sailor that evening. She and Chuck also saw Hickey earlier this evening. He seemed changed and mentioned something about saving the gang and bringing them peace. The group assures itself that Hickey has devised some new gag.
Hickey makes a grand entrance. Strangely enough, he is sober and wants to grab a quick snooze; for whatever reason, he walked to the bar this evening after bidding his wife farewell in Astoria. When the drinks come around, he only takes his chaser; Hickey has given up alcohol. He has finally found the guts to face himself and ditch the pipe dream that was making him miserable. He has come to offer the group the same happiness and freedom. The residents become defensive and eye him suspiciously.
Hickey exhorts Hope to take his walk finally, and pledges to help Jimmy get his old job back. When Larry cheers him sardonically, Hickey swears he will make an "honest man" out of the supposed grandstander too. Parritt sneers at the stung Larry in satisfaction. Hickey pauses before the stranger in their midst: he has the sense that they are somehow "members of the same lodge" and promises to help him as well. Parritt withdraws uneasily.
Yawning with growing drowsiness, Hickey continues to pontificate, trying to rouse the despondent crowd with his promises of "real peace." "Let yourself sink down to the bottom of the sea" he urges. "Rest in peace. There's no farther you have to go. Not a single damned hope or dream left to nag you." Abruptly he falls asleep in exhaustion.
The residents size him up defensively. Larry warns that anyone who takes Hickey up on his sales pitch should make sure his peace is not poison. The least impressed by Hickey's talk, Mosher recounts a comic anecdote about his old friend the snake oil doctor, who successfully identified sobriety as a leading cause of premature death and dreamed of filling the nation's cemeteries with his miracle cure. Eager to lighten the mood, the crowd receives Mosher's story with a great guffaw. It breaks Hickey's slumber, and he drowsily cheers the group on. The laughter stops abruptly.
Please wait while we process your payment