Plot Summary of Suddenly Last Summer - Garden District 2
"This one-act play by Tennessee Williams (performed in 1959 along with 'Something Unspoken') , has the finding of the truth at the core of its drama: Mrs. Venable, a rich and old widow, wants the truth of the death of her son Sebastian to be hidden or reinvented. The only witness of the death was her niece Catherine Holly, and the story she's being telling everyone is too hard to be accepted by the mother: Sebastian might have been assassinated, after being raped, by barbarians of a strange place known as 'Head of Wolf'. Mrs. Venable calls a doctor to give Catherine a lobotomy if necessary to erase the event from her memory (she's already being cloistered in an asylum), but she fights back. Catherine's mother and brother, however, try to convince her to change her version of the story so they can inherit a hundred thousand dollars from Sebastian's will. (They won't get the money if Mrs. Venable refuses.) In the end, we don't know if Catherine will be given a lobotomy or change her version of the story, but we understand she's lost her mind for what she saw."
Augusto Wong Campos, Resident Scholar
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Review Analysis of Suddenly Last Summer - Garden District 2
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- depressed
Time/era of story
- 1930's-1950's
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Coping with loss of loved one(s)
Yes
Loss of...
- child/children
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- blue collar
Age:
- 60's-90's
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- physically sick
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- 20's-30's
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Dumb
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 2 (a little)
United States
Yes
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
Is this a play?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- mostly dialog
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