34 pages • 1 hour read
Neil SimonBarefoot In The Park
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1963A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act IIChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act II, Scene 1 Summary
Scene One opens to the apartment now furnished in a hodgepodge of styles with books, mementos, and photos throughout. It is Friday, four days later. Corie enters with hors d’oeuvres and alcohol for the evening’s festivities. As she mixes martinis with equal parts gin and vermouth, Paul buzzes to be let up. Unaware that a neighbor is walking up the stairs with Paul, Corie begins a conversation with him, adding that she will kiss him “for five solid minutes” (39) when he arrives. Paul enters, asking her why she insists on conversing with him on the stairs, exposing their business to their neighbors. She explains that she missed him during the day and asks if he missed her. He says that he doesn’t because she phoned him so often at work. He is grumpy about the outcome of his trial. Corie fixes him a drink, and he complains that he could not think after moving furniture for three hours the evening before, directed by Victor. Corie tells him to mind his temper and be charming with their guests. He asserts that the night will be a disaster because “the count of Monte Christo” and her “quiet, dainty little” (41) mother will have nothing in common. Corie begins to fret just as her mother buzzes. Corie suggests giving her mother a fictional background to make her more interesting to Victor, but Paul rejects the idea.
Her mother enters, out of breath from the stairs and flustered by mishaps along the way, such as rain puddles andbeing splashed by a cab. She asks Paul to get her pink pills, which are for her stomach, and Corie offers her a martini and hors d’oeuvres, which she declines. Paul asks if she would like to lie down, but Corie says she cannot. Ethel agrees, saying that she wants to see the apartment. She thinks they are having dinner with Paul’s parents. Corie reveals that the evening is a blind date for Ethel and Victor. Ethel becomes anxious and drinks one of Corie’s martinis, saying she will need many to get through the evening. Corie tells her to relax, “go along with everything,” and “be one of the fellows” (47). Ethel clutches her stomach nervously.
Victor enters with a pan of knichi, which he says is an eel dish that won second prize at the previous year’s Venice Food Festival. He mentions a dinner club he belongs to, whose members include the King of Sweden, Prince Philip, and Darryl Zanuck. Ethel is impressed. Victor watches the clock to ensure everyone eats the knichi at the right moment. It is only good for five minutes and must be “popped” into the mouth, not “nibbled” (51). Ethel tries to pop one, but the first flies over her shoulder, and she almost chokes on the second. Paul nibbles on his knichi and declares it bitter. Only Corie pops one perfectly. She suggests that Victor select an unusual and special place for the group to eat. He names an Armenian restaurant on Staten Island, saying he will take care of transportation if Paul picks up the check. Corie points out that her mother has her car. Victor says that his job is done and jauntily dons a beret and scarf. The group heads out, with Paul mocking Victor’s motions.
Act II, Scene 2 Summary
Scene Two opens to the dark apartment at 2 a.m. Corie and Victor enter laughing and animatedly discussing the effects of drinking so much Uzu, a strong Greek liquor, asit makes their hands “stiff as a board” (55). Corie sings an Armenian song they heard—called “Shama Shama” (54)—as she and Victor go into her kitchen to make coffee. Paul and Ethel enter. They are subduedand both claim to be near death. Ethel notes how much enthusiasm for living Corie has. She plans to slip out, but Victor and Corie enter with brandy glasses. Corie accidentally blew out the pilot light while singing the Armenian national anthem, so they will have flaming brandies instead of coffee. Ethel excuses herself, saying it is late and has been a long evening. Victor insists on driving her home. Ethel says that the buses stop running at 2 a.m., meaning Victor will not be able to get home. He says he will worry about that in New Jersey, and they exit.
Corie gloats to Paul about the evening going so well, but he is furious with her. He tells Corie she did not realize how miserable her mother was and cannot believe Corie is not worried about Ethel. Corie says she is terrified but also “grateful there’s finally the opportunity for something to be scared about” (61). She tells him she is more worried that he is incapable of “having a good time” (61). He asks if she is calling him a “stuffed shirt,” and she says that he isn’t, but he is “extremely proper and dignified” (61). He is insulted and tries to refute her, but Corie says that he is perfect, further offending him. He wants to go to bed, but Corie will not let him because they are fighting. She tells him their marriage “hangs in the balance” (64), which stuns him. He retreats to the bedroom, and Corie calls him “a coward” (64). He calls her a child, and she grows increasingly hysterical. She says that she does not want to cry. He replies, “Oh, for pete’s sakes, cry. Go ahead and cry” (65), to which she retorts, “Don’t you tell me when to cry” (66). Corie announces that she wants a divorce and moves toward the bedroom. He is surprised to realize that she means it and demands she come out of the bedroom and discuss the divorce—alimony, payments, custody of possessions. She says she is going to have “the biggest cry” (69) she has ever had then barricades herself in the bedroom. She throws out a pillow, sheets, and a blanket for Paul. The phone rings. Paul rips the wire out of the wall and grumbles as he makes up the sofa. It begins snowing from the skylight. He peers up at it and crumbles to the floor.
Act II Analysis
The first scene develops the conflict among the characters, which results from each character’s struggle to accommodate the other’s limitations and to appreciate one another’s positive qualities.
In Paul’s case, his inability to leave work at the office and his negative attitude about the evening’s events demonstrate his rigidity. He believes the night will be a “fiasco” (41) because Ethel and Victor do not have anything in common. He fails to recognize that he and Corie love each other despite being fundamentally different and approaches the evening with resentment and derision. Corie, on the hand, jumps in with enthusiasm and optimism, which illustrates her sunny outlook, but her enthusiasm makes her prone to embellishing the truth—as when she wants to create a fictional backstory for Ethel—rather than accepting reality as it is. Her martinis demonstrate her improvisational side and disregard for planning. She dumps equal parts vermouth and gin together, though a proper martini is four parts gin to one part vermouth. Paul chokes on Corie’s concoction, while Ethel simply drinks it. In contrast to Paul, the other reserved character, Ethel,is able to accommodate others.
Even though in the first act she insists that she is happy the way she is, Ethel nervously goes through with the blind date, which causes her anxiety and discomfort. She follows Corie’s advice to “go along with everything” (47) even when it causes her physical and emotional strain. As Paul notices and Corie fails to, Ethel does not enjoy the “rich foods” (84) and excessive alcohol, but she does not outwardly complain. While Ethel is a “good sport” (85), she still needs to find balance between her desires and the desire of othersso that both are honored.
Victor’s knichi dish—which the author inventedfor the play—propels the relationship conflict and further develops each character. Victor describes knichi an eel dish, and this unusual dish, with its exacting constraints, echoes the inflexibility of the characters. The knichi must be consumed within five minutes of its cooking time and must be “popped” and not “nibbled” (51) to avoid bitterness. Corie expertly pops her knichi. Paul nibbles his, resulting in a bitter flavor, and Ethel tries unsuccessfully to pop hers. Each character’s consumption mirrors his/her relationship to the evening: Paul’s refusal to play along, Edith’s willingness to, and Corie and Victor’s unrestrained enjoyment. At the end of the evening, conflict bubbles over for Paul and Corie. Her spontaneity becomes a liability, as she impulsively demands a divorce.
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