48 pages 1 hour read

Tennessee Williams

Suddenly, Last Summer

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1958

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Scene 2

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Scene 2 Summary

In the garden, Catharine lights a cigarette. According to the stage direction, Catharine and Sister Felicity speak in fast “cadenced lines” as the nun pursues her and orders that Catharine hand over her cigarette. Catharine argues before eventually jabbing the lit end of the cigarette into the nun’s outstretched palm, burning her. Shocked, Sister Felicity commands her to sit down, which Catharine stiffly does. A whirring sound comes from the house, and Catharine guesses that her aunt is making a frozen daiquiri.

Recognizing Sebastian’s garden, Catharine shudders, cries, and asks Sister Felicity for medication. The nun refuses but tells her that the young doctor she met, a specialist from another hospital, will probably give her some. Catharine guesses from her vague manner that the doctor is from Lion’s View Hospital, and, glimpsing him in the window, screams at him, “IS IT LION’S VIEW? […] WHEN CAN I STOP RUNNING DOWN THAT STEEP WHITE STREET AT CABEZA DE LOBO?” (374). She tells Sister Felicity that she loved Sebastian and questions why her cousin wouldn’t let her save him.

Catherine suggests that Dr. Cukrowicz is trying to spy on her through the curtains but cannot hide his blond hair.

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