Burn the bridge, bet the store Baby's coming home no more Not for the life of me!
Millie Dillmount ran away from her home in rural Kansas to pursue an extravagant, exciting life in Manhattan. She bought a ticket to New York City to become a modern, city woman. When she first arrives, she explains that she has a ticket home, just in case her new life does not work out. In this pivotal scene, Millie tears up her return ticket, burning her bridges and abandoning her safety net. This marks a point of no return for Millie. She has started her journey and will not accept failure, no matter what New York throws at her.
I'm a modern.
This phrase is used repeatedly throughout the show. Millie aspires to be the quintessential modern city woman of the roaring twenties, and everything this encompasses. She cuts her hair into a signature bob, which to her is a signal to the world that she is officially a modern. She then sets her sights on marrying a rich man, this is an key part of her plan to assimilate herself to New York society. She tells Dorothy that she plans on interviewing bosses. When Dorothy asks if she has it backwards, she explains that she is only planning to work for a rich, eligible man whom she can ultimately marry. Millie's quest for modernity is a driving motivational force for her throughout the show.
Marry well, social whirl, business man, clever girl
Or pin my future on a green glass love
What kind of life am I dreaming of?
Millie struggles with her feelings for Jimmy throughout the show. She is obviously very much in love with him, as he is with her, but she has created a fantasy in her head where she must marry a rich man in order to fulfill her goal and truly embody a modern, New York woman. She has an internal struggle about marrying for money or for love. She truly does not know which will make her happier, love or money. She finally consults her wiser friend, Muzzy, who explains that she herself chose love over money and has not regretted it once. This emboldens Millie to take the plunge and tell Jimmy that she is in love with him and accepts his proposal. It isn't until after Millie has decided that she would rather be in love than be rich that it is revealed that Jimmy is secretly a very wealthy man. Millie can have her cake and eat it too.
