Brighton Beach Memoirs

Act II takes place one week after Act I. A tired Kate works around the house while Eugene writes outside. He reveals that Jack had a heart attack as a result of overworking himself and was ordered to take a two-week break. Jack is struggling with this demand and worries that he will be bedridden for life. Stanley interrupts Eugene’s writing to say he has a secret to tell him. Eugene says if it’s more about Nora, he is uninterested because he is annoyed with her now that she has a boyfriend, and she is snubbing the family after the discussion of her audition.

Eugene is worried about his brother, and later goes to check on him. He is surprised to find him smoking a cigarette and looking upset. Stanley confesses that he lost his entire salary gambling and is unsure how to proceed. He feels guilty since the money is especially important to support the family through Jack’s bedrest. Stanley asks Eugene to help him brainstorm excuses for where the money went. When Eugene suggests fabricating a hole in his pocket, Stanley says that won’t work, as he’s already used that excuse after seeing a prostitute. Stanley tries to keep brainstorming, but Eugene is completely sidetracked by the mention of a prostitute. As Eugene keeps pestering him with questions, Stanley becomes frustrated, accusing him of only helping him for his own gain. He says, “Every time I get in trouble, I have to tell you what a naked girl looks like?” (80). Stanley suggests that Eugene is a lazy student who spends his days looking up girls’ skirts in the hallway. He demands Eugene show him his report card to prove his academic success. Eugene refuses to show anyone but Jack.

This conflict leads into a full blown argument. Stanley suggests that Eugene is selfish about offering help and says Eugene can never understand the burdens Stanley takes on for the sake of the family. Eugene tries to retaliate but can only imply that Stanley is the reason for their smelly bathroom. Stanley furiously commands that Eugene show him his report card and threatens to beat Eugene up if he won’t comply. Eugene starts crying and finally hands it off to him—he has four As and a B. Stanley is sobered upon being proven wrong and apologizes to Eugene, telling him “…That’s good. That’s real good, Eugene…You’re smart…I want you to go to college…I want you to be somebody important someday…Because I’m not…I’m no damn good” (85). Stanley tells Eugene he is proud of him, and the two have a quiet reconciliation.

As the family begins to gather to meet Mr. Murphy, Nora rushes out of the house. She knows this dinner is important to Blanche, and she refuses to accommodate Blanche out of spite. Blanche arrives downstairs shortly after Nora leaves and is showered with compliments by Jack, Kate, and Laurie. However, she is mostly worried about where Nora is. She is upset to hear that Nora left without saying goodbye and blames herself: “She knows she can get to me so easily…That’s what I get for making decisions” (91). Blanche worries that Nora will eventually run away if their relationship continues to deteriorate.

After seeing Blanche’s stress, Kate asks Stanley to chip in for the dinner. After vaguely admitting to losing it, he finally confesses that he was gambling. Kate is horrified but insists they’ll have to make up an excuse—she thinks if Jack knows the truth, it’ll give him another heart attack. She tells Stanley that they will come up with ideas after Jack and Blanche are asleep.

Blanche finds Kate crying after her conversation with Stanley. Kate insists that she’s fine and is just worried about her family. Blanche tries to empathize by bringing up Nora, and Kate snaps at her and says she is putting herself at the center of the family problems. Kate finally breaks down, admitting that she could never survive if something happened to Jack, and she doesn’t know how Blanche got through losing Dave. Blanche says at the end of the day she got through it for her children. Shortly after, Laurie returns with a letter from Mrs. Murphy, who writes that Frank was injured while drunk driving and that after he leaves the hospital, he will be moving to upstate New York for rehab. Blanche is devastated to be missing her dinner. The kids leave Blanche and Kate to talk.

Blanche shares her sadness for Frank’s mother, but Kate says that she will never have sympathy for Irish people. Blanche points out that Mrs. Murphy is a mother, just like them and that Frank is clearly struggling. Their argument continues to build until Kate shouts that nobody ever looks after her and that she always has to look after other people. According to Kate, this issue started in childhood, telling Blanche “I was the workhorse and you were the pretty one” (101). Kate angrily admits that she feels Blanche bears responsibility for Jack’s heart attack since a lot of his money goes to Nora’s dance lessons and Laurie’s doctor. She says she never had time to address these feelings because she is required to take care of everyone in the house. Blanche expresses shame at her situation. She tells Kate if she could take the kids elsewhere, she would. She says she knows a woman in Manhattan Beach who she can stay with until she finds employment. She refuses to accept their help any longer despite Jack’s vocal opposition and exclaims, “I will do anything anybody asks me, but I will never be a burden to anyone again” (103).

Jack interrupts the fight, and tells Kate and Blanche that they are bickering as they would have in childhood. He faces Kate, insisting that something must have provoked her to respond that way. Kate refuses to answer. When Eugene comes back, she tells him to get Stanley and his cousins for dinner. He can tell his parents are upset, but he is pleased that he isn’t getting blamed for their issues. However, he connects this reaction to his burgeoning selfishness: “[...] as long as I wasn’t to blame, I didn’t feel all that bad about things. That’s when I realized I had a selfish streak in me” (104). He expresses hope that he can change his behavior for the betterment of himself and his family.

When Eugene goes to get Stanley, he informs him of Blanche’s intent to leave. Stanley is upset and asks if it has to do with his lost salary. Stanley says that Kate is now aware, and he assumes she told the rest of the family. Stanley is devastated at the idea of his actions breaking up the family and resolves to leave the house to join the army. He imagines he will be able to join the war Jack is telling the family so much about, and he hopes to make his father proud. Eugene wants to join him, but Stanley refuses. He makes Eugene promise to go to college and says that he will send his army check home so Eugene can focus on his studies. As Stanley leaves, Eugene tells the audience he senses a fundamental change in his life:

I guess there comes a time in everybody’s life when you say, ‘This very moment is the end of my childhood.’ When Stanley closed the door, I knew that moment had come to me…I was scared. I was lonely. And I hated my mother and father for making him so unhappy. Even if they were right, I still hated them…I even hated Stanley a little because he left me there to grow up all by myself. (108)

He is distracted by Stanley’s departure throughout the family dinner but can’t bring himself to tell Kate that Stanley has gone. Unable to bear it, he goes to talk to Laurie. She tells him that she and Nora are also going to move out with her mother. Eugene realizes he’s going to be the only child left in the house. He finally musters up the courage to break the news about Stanley to his parents, but to his surprise Kate and Jack aren’t worried because they assume he will return shortly. Eugene, taking their words to heart, waits for Stanley on the porch all night and is devastated when he doesn’t return.

Elsewhere in the house, Blanche is determined to stay awake until Nora gets home. Once Nora returns, she explains what happened with Frank and says she was hurt that Nora left without saying goodbye. Nora tries to push past her and insists that they talk in the morning, but Blanche says she’ll be moving out and sending for the girls when she’s settled. Nora is upset and accuses Blanche of being a hypocrite, asking, “You mean it’s all right for you to leave us but it wasn’t all right for me to leave you?” (113). Blanche tells Nora that her fears surrounding the audition were based on her future, not on her leaving the house. Despite standing by the outcome, she expresses regret that she was passive about her decision. She confesses that Dave always made the decisions and that she was coddled as a child. Nora says she is just asking for her independence, but Blanche says it has to be earned. Nora accuses Blanche of projecting her own bitterness onto her and that she feels as though she was constantly neglected in favor of other people. When Nora’s father was alive, Blanche mostly paid attention to him, and after he passed her attention it went to Laurie. Nora tells Blanche she is tired of being put last and suggests that Blanche loves Laurie more:

I have been jealous my whole life of Laurie because she was lucky enough to be born sick. I could never turn a light on in my room at night or read in bed because Laurie always needed her precious sleep. I could never have a friend over on the weekends because Laurie was always resting. I used to pray I’d get some terrible disease or get hit by a car so I’d have a leg all twisted or crippled and then once, maybe just once, I’d get to crawl into bed next to you on a cold rainy night and talk to you and hold you until I fell asleep in your arms…just once… (115)

Blanche tells Nora she is unfairly taking out her anger on her. She says she is willing to acknowledge her mistakes, but she cannot take accountability for real world circumstances or other people’s feelings. After noticing her tendency to focus on her own misery, she is determined to stand up for herself and forge a more positive path ahead, insisting “I will not go back to being that frightened helpless woman that I created. I’ve already buried someone I love. Now it’s time to bury someone I hate” (116). Nora hears her out and says that while she is still upset, she is more understanding of Blanche’s logic.

While cooling down from the argument, Blanche and Kate discuss the prospect of her leaving. Blanche promises that Nora and Laurie will help out around the house, and that it is time Laurie stops using her illness as an excuse. Kate apologizes for their argument and begs her to stay. However, Blanche says Kate was right, and Blanche needed to hear it. Her main focus now is keeping her girls together. Kate accepts that Blanche is leaving but reminds her that she is always welcome to come back. Blanche says she has to finally push herself. She tells Kate, “I’m afraid of becoming comfortable here. If I don’t get out now, when will I ever do it?” (118)

Eugene comes back, signaling a new day. He informs the audience that Blanche agreed to put off house hunting until she found a job. Everything is seemingly normal: Nora is once again being kind to him, and Laurie is using her heart as an excuse to get out of work. He mentions that Kate and Jack recently had an argument about Stanley’s salary and expresses worry that he will never return. However, Stanley comes back shortly after. Stanley admits he was close to enlisting, but he felt his family ended up needing him more than the army does. He realizes their relationship is more important than his lost money and previous mistakes, admitting “I knew Ma didn’t really mean it when she said she’d never forgive me for losing the money, but if I walked out on the family now, maybe she never would” (120). Eugene tells Kate that Stanley is home before going off to Greenblatt’s for flour.

After finally facing Kate, Stanley tells her that he will happily stay as long as he is allowed. She assures him he’s still welcome, but she insists that Stanley owes Jack an explanation. Stanley finds Jack and says he understands he made a terrible mistake. He is already trying to better himself and is working frequent odd jobs to make the money back. Stanley says he was inspired to do this because Jack raised him to be a man who works hard and sticks to his values. He proudly tells Jack, “That’s the one thing you taught me. Hard work and principles. That’s the code I’m going to live by for the rest of my life…” (121). Jack responds by asking Stanley if he is aware of the brewing war. He tells Jack the topic is taboo at work since his boss Mr. Stroheim is German. Jack says that his brother Michael died in World War I. He reflects on how much he adored his older brother and says it reminds him of how Eugene views Stanley. Stanley thinks Jack is exaggerating about how Eugene feels about him, but Jack says he always hears Eugene bragging about Stanley to his friends. He says Eugene will still need him around to guide him and that the brothers need to maintain their closeness as long as they can. Soon enough, the war will require him to enlist, but before then Stanley needs to keep looking after his brother. He wishes he had the same opportunity.

Jack affirms that Stanley has always been a good son. He understands why he felt the need to gamble and admits to having done it in the past. Jack says it is important for him to acknowledge his flaws, telling Stanley, “If you grow up thinking I was perfect, you’ll hate yourself for every mistake you ever make” (124). His anger was immediately tempered by the news of the war, and his main priority was ensuring that Stanley stays home. Jack instructs Stanley to give Kate the money he earned after dinner and apologize to her and Blanche. Jack says Eugene is partially responsible for his lack of severe punishment and recounts how Eugene was nearly in tears while talking about how upset Stanley was about his mistake. He promises to teach him poker after dinner. Eugene arrives shortly after and embraces his newfound responsibilities. He proudly delivers groceries and gives Jack his mail.

As Jack reads the mail, Eugene and Stanley go upstairs. Eugene makes sure Stanley is okay. Stanley playfully teases him, mentioning that he has another poker game after dinner. Eugene, who is unaware he is playing against his father, is shocked. Stanley presents him with a picture of a nude French model in exchange for his silence. Eugene is thrilled.

Downstairs, Jack rushes over to Kate. He’s overjoyed because just received news that his cousin Sholem escaped Poland and is coming to New York with his wife, mother, and four children. Stanley asks where they will stay, and Kate automatically volunteers the house. The family bands together and begins planning how to accommodate everybody. Kate calls for Eugene one final time, and he promises to come down after finishing his writing. He declares that after having seen a naked woman, “Puberty is over!” (130).