Act I

Reading Check

1. “Because Daddy said we should be nice to them” (Act I)

2. “[S]pringing things on [him]” (Act I)

3. His anger (Act I)

4. History and Biology, respectively (Act I)

4. He was “buried, as many of us have been, and as many more of us will be, under the shrubbery around the chapel.” (Act I)

5. The stage direction is “Martha has changed her clothes and she looks, now, more comfortable and…and this is most important…most voluptuous.” (Act I)

Short Answer

1. The guests coming over are Nick and Honey. Martha describes Nick as 30-something, blond, “good-looking,” and in the math department, while Honey is a “mousey little type, without any hips, or anything.” (Act I)

2. Initially, George references an abstract painting on the wall (noted as such in the stage direction) as a “pictoral representation of Martha’s mind.” A few lines later, he refers to Martha’s drinking taste in alcohol as “pure and simple {…} for the pure and simple.” (Act I)

3. George reveals that Martha’s father is the president of the university at which George and Nick teach, a fact that Martha is particularly proud of.