The Children's Hour

In Act I, when Mary and her friends are alone in the school’s living room, Mary accidentally knocks a vase on the floor. As it breaks, “Evelyn and Peggy gasp, and Mary’s bravado disappears for a moment” (24). Peggy illuminates that the vase was a gift from Joe to Karen, adding, “I guess it was kind of a lover’s gift. People get awfully angry about a lover’s gift” (24). Mary’s initial reaction is to extend the guilt to her two friends as well as herself, but then she quickly asserts that she’ll lie her way out of trouble. Although no one seems to notice the missing vase, it represents the way that Mary carelessly breaks the relationship between Joe and Karen. The small moment in which Mary loses her confidence indicates that she does have a sense of consequence, although she claims later in the scene that she does not care. Mary’s lies about Martha and Karen cause an immediate fracture in all of their relationships, although some of the breakages take time to appear. Joe automatically takes Karen’s side, but the doubt planted by Mary’s claims eventually damages their relationship irreparably. Just as Peggy “stoop[s] down in a vain effort to pick up the pieces” (24) of the vase, their shattered relationship cannot be put back together.

In the first scene, Karen asks Helen if she has found her bracelet, and Helen replies, “No, I haven’t, and I’ve looked for it everywhere” (10). Karen suggests that Helen keep searching, asserting, “it must be in your room somewhere” (10). This implies that if Helen has assumed the bracelet stolen, she has not convinced Karen. Rosalie, who claims to have borrowed the bracelet (presumably without asking), tells Mary that she meant to give it back. Ostensibly, although it is never stated, Helen discovered that it was missing and Rosalie was afraid to return it. Once the students are all removed from school, the bracelet becomes a smoking gun that plagues Rosalie’s conscience. Rosalie’s fear of coming forward with the bracelet, or even creating an alternate story as to how she came to be in possession of the bracelet, is an indication of Rosalie’s innocence and immaturity. Mary uses this fear to manipulate Rosalie into doing her bidding. Mary’s references to her own possessions, a gold locket and a buckle, which she pointedly offers to allow Rosalie to borrow, draw a reaction from Rosalie that suggests she might have had multiple episodes of sticky fingers. Mary exploits Rosalie’s guilt by threatening her with prison and a ruined life. Rosalie does not understand these are empty threats. The bracelet represents Mary’s ability to hold Rosalie hostage. The discovery of Helen’s bracelet after the libel suit becomes the evidence that leads to the exposure of Mary’s lies.

Mary and her friends are secretly sharing Théophile Gautier’s 1835 erotic novel, Mademoiselle de Maupin. In the first scene, Mary is late to class because she stayed to finish the book. The novel represents the curiosity of children who are growing into maturity. They are seeking an education not deemed appropriate for young, unmarried girls. The presumption that the girls have not been exposed to such an education leads Mrs. Tilford to believe Mary’s claims. The novel literally acts as a hindrance in the school’s training of Mary to become a wife, as it draws her attention away from her sewing class. It feeds her deceptive nature, as she creates an elaborate lie involving fishing flowers out of the trash in order to cover the fact that she was reading it. Although it is possible that Mary received the book from other girls, she has not yet passed it to Evelyn or Peggy. As the parents work quickly to remove their girls from the supposed corrupting influence of exposure to an alleged lesbian couple, the girls are finding their own way of educating themselves on topics deemed too adult for them.