Summary
At the beginning of the play, Germaine is talking to her daughter Linda about the boxes in her kitchen. She has just won a number of stamps, which are part of a customer loyalty reward program for local stores. She says that she has invited some friends over, fifteen in total, to help her paste them into booklets, as that is the only form in which they can be redeemed.
They then have a disagreement about whether or not Linda will stay and help. Linda had planned on going out to a show with her boyfriend Robert, who Germaine dislikes. Germaine then complains about how she does so much for Linda and Linda is ungrateful. Linda calls Robert to let him know she can't go and then answers the phone when her aunt Linda calls. She proceeds to hand the phone over to Germaine.
Germaine complains about her manners and says she should be more polite when she answers the phone. Linda says it's only her aunt Rose and sees no need to take extra pains to be polite to her. Germaine talks to Rose about how she plans to use the stamps to redecorate her house and purchase various items the family needs. At that moment, Marie-Ange enters the kitchen and Germaine gets off the phone.
Marie-Ange expresses bitterness, privately, that Germaine was the one to win the contest, as she feels she needs the extra money more. She says that her whole life has been unlucky and so it is natural that she would not have the same measure of good fortune. After this, some other women (Gabrielle, Rose, Yvette, and Lisette) come through the door.
The women then speak as a chorus and talk about the various painful, draining chores they are tasked with, like washing clothes until their hands become chapped or constantly making meals. They also complain that they spend their weekends fighting with kids and visiting irritating in-laws. They then sit down and Lisette begins talking about her recent trip to Europe, much to the chagrin of everyone at the table.
They also talk about the stamps and wait for Germaine to return. When Germaine comes back into the room she asks where Linda is and realizes that she has snuck out of the house. She leaves again briefly and Yvette talks about her daughter's marriage and recent honeymoon. Rose makes some racist comments about her dislike of Italians and is concerned when she learns that her son may be involved with her neighbor's daughter, who is Italian.
When Germaine returns, she turns on the radio and has a brief disagreement with her sister Rose. They talk about the distinction between fighting and quarreling. The women all rush from the table when they hear a loud sound. They discover it was Thérèse's mother-in-law who took a tumble down the stairs.
Analysis
The play opens with an intergenerational struggle between Germaine and her daughter Linda. Germaine feels that Linda should help her paste the stamps she has just won into booklets, as she spends so much of her time taking care of Linda, without acknowledgment or thanks. She also feels that Linda consistently displays poor manners, and she strongly disapproves of the boy Linda has been dating, as she sees him as someone without prospects or goals. For her part, Linda feels that her mother is constantly overreacting and micromanaging every part of her life. She is irritated that she treats her with so little trust or regard for her common sense. In this way, the opening moments frame many of the disagreements to come, as it shows that the times, and attitudes, are rapidly changing.
Another major theme in this section is repression. A great deal of tension exists right beneath the surface of the characters' interactions, as they wrestle privately with various things they cannot speak about directly. The chorus section, as well as Marie-Ange's complaints about the party, indicate that the women are continually forced to push down their daily frustrations. Repression comes to play a more significant role in the rest of the story, as individual soliloquies show the interior feelings that these women have been unable to express. This difficulty is indicative of the play's broader exploration of issues that these characters are unable to openly discuss.
Within the chorus section, an additional important theme is domestic labor. The women complain about all the work that falls on their shoulders: cooking, cleaning, planning weekend trips. In their view, these daily efforts are physically exhausting and receive no thanks from their spouses and children. This portrait of domestic labor is a grim one, as it reveals how it consumes the lives of these women entirely, leaving them with no spare time or energy. Likewise, the lack of appreciation given to these chores shows the frustrating role that they are forced to occupy in their homes. The fact that this is spoken in the chorus moments also suggests that this experience is a universal one shared by all of the women at the party, despite their various personal differences.
Class is also a major component of this early section. Marie-Ange is frustrated that Germaine is the one who received these stamps, as she believes she both deserves and needs them more. This immediately creates tension between the two of them, as Germaine seems entirely unaware of Marie-Ange's resentment of her win. As the play continues, the perception of this economic gap between them fuels increasing anger, leading Marie-Ange to begin stealing some of the stamps. This moment also points to the way in which the characters, despite being from a broadly similar social class, see themselves as slightly above or below each other. Lisette pointedly mentions her recent vacation in Europe as a way of placing herself above the other characters, which Rose immediately objects to. Class becomes a flash point of the entire play, driving many of the individual conflicts.
While this first section primarily introduces the characters, its main ideas are laid out fairly clearly. It shows how class tensions and the daily wear of domestic labor have fostered simmering resentments. Likewise, it suggests that the generational divides will play a larger role as the story goes along. Tremblay effectively shows exactly who the characters are and where their attention and criticism land.
