August: Osage County by Tracy Letts

• Born: July 4, 1965
• Birthplace: Tulsa, Oklahoma

First published: 2008

Type of work: Drama

Type of plot: Tragicomedy

Time of plot: August 2007

Locale: Pawhuska, Oklahoma

Principal Characters

Beverly Weston, a former poet, the father of the family

Violet Weston, his wife, the mother of the family, prescription drug addict

Barbara Fordham, his eldest daughter who left home

Ivy Weston, his middle daughter, who stayed home and is secretly involved with her first cousin

Karen Weston, his youngest daughter

The Story

Retired poet Beverly "Bev" Weston interviews a young woman named Johnna, hoping to hire her to care for his wife, Violet. He casually explains that Violet is ill with oral cancer and that she is also addicted to prescription drugs, which make her constant mood swings even worse. He also tells Johnna that he is an alcoholic. Violet enters the room and initiates an illogical argument with Beverly. When the argument is over, Bev hires Johnna and gives her a book by T. S. Eliot.

Several weeks later, it is revealed that Beverly is missing and has been for five days, which prompts the family to gather from around the country. Violet’s younger sister Mattie Fae and her husband, Charles, are both present, as is Ivy, Violet’s middle daughter who still lives close to home. The oldest daughter, Barbara, arrives with her husband, Bill, and their fourteen-year-old daughter, Jean. Violet explains to everyone that Beverly walked out one day as usual and never came home and that when several days had passed, she emptied out their safety deposit box, which was a plan she and Beverly had devised in the event one of them died in order to avoid estate taxes. Violet is thrilled to have Barbara there to support her, even though Ivy has been supporting the family her entire life.

Jean heads upstairs to smoke marijuana with Johnna and then tells Johnna that her parents are separated because her father, who is a college professor, is sleeping with one of his students. The entire family has many tense discussions, but eventually everyone falls asleep. Early the next morning, they are awoken by the sheriff, who is also one of Barbara’s former high school boyfriends. He tells the family that Beverly’s body has been found in a pond and his death is apparently a suicide. Violet has taken so many pills she cannot understand the news.

The youngest daughter, Karen, arrives with her fiancé, Steve after the funeral ends. Violet is cruelly critical of Ivy, complaining about Ivy’s choice to wear a suit to the funeral rather than a dress and worrying that she will never find a husband. Ivy insists she is in love, although she will not say with whom. Mattie Fae complains that her own son, Little Charles, is also worthless, having slept through the funeral. Karen’s fiancé quickly learns that Jean smokes marijuana and offers her some, flirting inappropriately with the teenager when they are alone. When dinner begins, Little Charles and Ivy, who are lovers, sneak outside to kiss. Over food, Violet declares that her husband intended to leave her everything in his will but never got around to it, so therefore everything should be hers. She then goes on to scold her family for being unappreciative, which prompts Barbara to react angrily, calling her mother a drug addict and announcing that she, rather than her mother, is now the one in charge of the family.

The sisters struggle to find a way to care for their mother, and Barbara tells them that the doctors suspect Violet has brain damage. Ivy decides to take this moment to reveal her relationship with Little Charles, saying the two are going to run away to New York. She and Little Charles then get a moment alone but are interrupted by his mother, who complains more about his lack of motivation and becomes suspicious about Little Charles’s attachment to Ivy. Mattie Fae then gets Barbara to confirm the affair between the cousins. Mattie Fae then insists that the relationship must end, telling Barbara that Little Charles is Ivy’s half brother and is the product of an affair with Beverly years ago.

Jean and Steve smoke marijuana again, and this time he makes stronger advances and attempts to force Jean to have sex. Johnna comes upstairs to join them, but when she sees what is happening, she attacks Steve with a pan. As family members rush to the scene, Barbara physically attacks Steve and Jean begins to verbally attack her parents. Barbara slaps her daughter, and Karen decides Steve is innocent and places the blame on Jean. Bill then tells Barbara that he is leaving her and is departing for home with their daughter.

Two weeks later, Barbara is terribly drunk and suggests that Johnna might want to quit her job in order to get away from the family. The sheriff returns to tell them he has discovered that Beverly stayed at a motel before he drowned. The sheriff then tries to offer Barbara some emotional comfort, but her drunkenness makes her miss the opportunity. When Ivy joins Barbara and Violet for dinner, Ivy tries to tell Violet about her plan with Little Charles, but Violet interrupts to tell her instead that Little Charles is actually Ivy’s brother. The family erupts into argument again, and Violet blames Barbara for Beverly’s suicide because when she left home, it caused great distress to everyone. She also admits that she knew which motel Beverly was staying in and could have likely prevented the suicide, but instead she chose to spend that time emptying the safety deposit box. Barbara leaves, and Johnna stays as Violet’s only company, reading to her from the T. S. Eliot book.

Bibliography

Isherwood, Charles. "Mama Doesn’t Feel Well, but Everyone Else Will Feel Much Worse." New York Times 5 Dec. 2007: E1(L). Print.

Mohler, Courtney Elkin. "Nostalgia, Irony, and the Re-Emergence of the Reified American Indian Other in August: Osage County." Text and Presentation, 2010. Ed. Kiki Gounaridou. Jefferson: McFarland, 2011. 130–42. Print.

Nance, Kevin. "Tracy Letts: No Place Like Home." American Theatre 24.6 (2007): 42–45. Print.

Scott, A. O. "Home Fires, Acridly Burning." New York Times 27 Dec. 2013: pC1(L). Print.

Smith, Michael. "Meet the Characters, Cast of ‘August: Osage County.’" Tulsa World. BH Media Group Holdings, 13 Sep. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.