Summary
The next part of the play begins with Rose complaining about the noise from the radio. People ask about Olivine, Thérèse's mother-in-law, after she has fallen down. Thérèse says not to worry, as she falls often. She adds that she has taken to biting people, and she nearly bites Germaine.
Thérèse then talks about how difficult it has been caring for her and how she had to do so because her husband couldn't afford to put her in a retirement home. She says that every day she has to bathe and dress her, in much the same way she would have to with a child. She describes a time in which Olivine spilled molasses all over herself. They all say she is a saint.
Germaine returns with saucers of water and says that they should begin pasting the stamps into the booklets. She also expresses anger that Linda has left. This sets everyone off on a conversation about children who are all ungrateful. Gabrielle complains that her son has taken an interest in classical music, which she hates listening to. She is irritated by the dismissive manner with which he treats them and says that he acts like he is better than them because of his interests and education.
Rose then tells a story about visiting her son at his house, which is overrun with birds that his wife has taken in. She says they defecate everywhere and are extremely loud. She says that his house is a circus, with his children chasing after the birds as they fly around. She adds that she finds the children annoying as well. She describes an instance in which they were making a mess in the bathroom, playing with water and wet toilet paper. Horrified by their mother's lack of response, Rose then took it upon herself to discipline them and send them to bed.
Thérèse complains about her in-laws asking for money. Germaine gives further instructions on how to handle the booklets and says that they should expect two more guests, Rhéauna and Angéline. Marie-Ange complains that she has never won any contests. Germaine says that she plans to use the stamps to redecorate her house. Marie-Ange then reiterates her complaints, saying that these contests must be rigged, to which Germaine replies that she only feels that way out of bitterness. Marie-Ange quietly begins stealing the books she filled.
Lisette talks about competing in word puzzles and they try to solve one together. Thérèse hits her mother-in-law for spilling her saucer. People are concerned by the violence, but she says that she is entirely used to it at this point. Yvette talks about her daughter's honeymoon and how she attempted to preserve a piece of the wedding cake. Germaine tells Rose to buy a regular lawn mower, as she has been cutting her grass with large scissors. Des-Neiges also takes a book of stamps, as does Thérèse.
Thérèse says her husband correctly guessed the mystery voice in a radio competition. Lisette talks about how there is nothing like real fur coats and Rose angrily says she is being haughty. Rose then adds that she is pretending to have more money than she actually does. Des-Neiges tells an inappropriate joke about a nun.
Analysis
This section of the play begins with Thérèse voicing her frustration about having to take care of her mother-in-law, Olivine. Olivine's mental and physical health has deteriorated to the point that she needs help with all of her daily tasks. Due to a financial issue, Thérèse is tasked with Olivine's care and finds it completely exhausting. She claims to be trying to just get through and endure it, but the physical violence she inflicts upon Olivine for spilling her saucer suggests otherwise. Like the chorus moment in the previous section, it is suggested here that the repetition of this thankless and draining work has left Thérèse feeling trapped and dispirited. Once again, the portrayal of domestic work is a grim one.
Class is another major theme in this section. Gabrielle complains a great deal about her son. She says he has taken an interest in classical music, which she hates to listen to, and is also quoting Latin at the dinner table. She feels that he views her and the rest of the family as somehow beneath him for not appreciating the things that he does, which she resents greatly as the person who takes care of him. In this way, classical music becomes a symbol of education, intellectualism, and upper-class culture, and her reaction to it reveals the class tension at work in the play. Gabrielle may not dislike the music itself, so much as she dislikes the effect she feels it has on her son and the distance it creates between them.
Class also appears as an important component of Lisette's comments. Like her earlier mention of her European vacation, her description of real fur coats is an obvious attempt on her part to appear more cultured than the other guests. Rose calls Lisette out about this, saying that she is actually not as wealthy as she pretends to be and that she should stop making such elevated claims when they are clearly a front. This moment speaks to how the characters are all from a fairly similar background despite their respective claims otherwise. Lisette's mention of real fur is indicative of the way in which her character attempts to use class signifiers as a means of exaggerating her status.
A line that gets repeated throughout this section of the play is "Do I look like someone who's ever won anything?" It is said by Thérèse, Marie-Ange, and Des-Neiges when the topic of contests comes up. It also acts as a precursor to the moments just before they start stealing stamps from Germaine. It reveals both how unlucky these women feel, trapped between financial need and the daily wear of domestic labor, and their resentment of Germaine. The frustration inherent to this repeated phrase is obvious, as it casts the idea of being a "winner" as something fated and inevitable. To them, people like Germaine will always be lucky while they, by contrast, will always be unlucky. This allows them to justify stealing from Germaine, as they feel she does not need or truly deserve what she won.
This section of the play brings the characters' tensions to something of a boil, revisiting the fault lines of their previous arguments. Class, luck, and care all appear as prominent themes, showing how the characters view their lives and feel stuck in their undesirable circumstances. As the play moves towards the conclusion of the first act, many of the more dramatic consequences of these fights appear just on the horizon.
