Summary
Act 2. In the same home, Addie looks out the window, as Oscar enters the house. He alludes to the fact that something has gone wrong in Alexandra's errand to fetch Horace, and Addie suggests that it was a mistake to send Alexandra all by herself.
Regina comes to the stairs, still in her dressing gown, and greets Oscar, who tells her he thinks that something has happened with Alexandra. Regina insists that nothing has happened, that Alexandra just "hasn't got sense enough to send a message."
As Cal enters with coffee, Oscar scolds him for being late in bringing it in. He tells Cal that it's the first day he's missed going out shooting in eight years. Cal discusses the fact that most of the black people in town would love to have some meat of the animals that Cal kills. Oscar replies, "Cal, if I catch a nigger in this town going shooting, you know what's going to happen."
Leo comes in and tells Oscar that he hasn't heard any word from anyone at the bank about Horace and Alexandra. Oscar scolds Leo for leaving work without giving notice, and tells him that he ought to think about settling down and getting married soon. He also tells him that he has to stop fooling around with his "outside woman" in Mobile.
Oscar tells Leo that he ought to think about himself, and that if he plays his cards right, he might inherit his own fortune as well as Alexandra's. Leo tells Oscar that Horace has $88,000 in Union Pacific bonds that have just been accruing value, and Oscar says that Horace has had the bonds for 15 years. Leo talks about the things that Horace has in his safety deposit box, including an old shoe of Alexandra's, and a piece of an old violin.
After Oscar needles him a bit, Leo admits that he was the one who opened Horace's safety deposit box and looked inside. Oscar then asks him if anyone knows he opened it and Leo tells him that no one knows. Oscar asks Leo, "You think your Uncle Horace likes you well enough to lend you the bonds if he decides not to use them himself?" He imagines a world in which Horace lends Leo the bonds for a few months, adding, "And if he doesn't look at them until fall, he wouldn't even miss them out of the box."
Ben enters and questions Regina about Horace's lateness. When she suggests that perhaps Horace went to visit his cousin in Savannah, Ben reminds her that the cousin is dead and that they wouldn't go through Savannah anyway. "You're always remembering about people dying," Regina says, laughing, before sending Cal back to the kitchen with her grits, claiming they aren't hot enough.
Horace and Alexandra enter, and Alexandra tells them they had to stop in Mobile, as Horace was not feeling well. "The trip was very hard on him, and now he must go right to bed," Alexandra says of her father, and Addie tells her to go upstairs and bathe, as she's dirty. Horace wants some coffee, but Alexandra reminds him that he cannot drink too much coffee.
When Alexandra leaves, Horace asks Addie why he has been called home. She tells him that everyone is maneuvering to get rich, before mentioning that people want Alexandra and Leo to get married. "What are you talking about?" Horace asks, surprised and angered by this news. He tells Addie to announce his arrival, and he is greeted by everyone.
As they greet each other, Birdie bursts in in a kimono and greets Horace warmly, before noting that he doesn't look well. Oscar is self-conscious about the fact that Birdie ran out into the street in a wrapper and sends her home. Horace tells Regina that he actually liked being at the hospital, that it felt like a holiday and he did a lot of thinking, especially about her.
Horace asks Regina why she sent Alexandra to fetch him, and tells her that he was touched that Regina wanted him home. He then asks about the rumor of Alexandra and Leo's engagement and Regina becomes defensive, saying that Oscar suggested it, but she has no plans to consent to a union between the cousins. Horace says that he does not approve of Leo and then confronts Regina about the fact that she has not once inquired about his health. He reveals that he does not have long to live.
Regina suggests that perhaps his bad heart was caused by his multiple affairs over the years with "fancy women." This upsets Horace, who alludes to the fact that Regina has not wanted to share a bed with him for 10 years. Realizing that she is not helping the business arrangement, Regina apologizes and tells him that she did not ask about his illness because she didn't want to upset him.
Horace wants to go to bed, but Regina insists that he talk to Ben first. He suspects it has to do with the mill business, and still does not want to talk, but Ben comes in and begins pitching his business plan. Horace takes some medicine and tells Ben that he knows all about the plan from Regina's letters. As they tell Horace that he will receive a larger share because his investment is so needed, Horace begins to understand the whole arrangement and laughs to himself.
Analysis
Oscar is a particularly disapproving and inconsiderate character, especially on his arrival at Regina's at the beginning of Act 1. He scolds Regina's servants for being so passive, even though Regina herself is not even up and dressed yet. Seemingly very anxious about Alexandra's return, he assumes that something has gone wrong in her journey before he has any more information. In this, we see that the greed and business dealings of the Hubbard clan are driving them apart in major ways.
Not only is Oscar unpleasant, he is also classist and racist. When Cal, the black servant in Regina's house, speaks to him about his hunting habits, and alludes to the fact that the animals Cal kills for sport would be very much appreciated as food for poor black people in the region, Oscar fires back that he never wants to see a black person hunting in the region. He has a fierce and defensive bigotry, a sense of his own importance and privileges, and a refusal to think charitably.
In this section, Oscar schemes to steal money from Horace's safety deposit box, using his naive but opportunistic son, Leo, as a way of justifying the theft. He is not above taking the bonds from the safety deposit box if it means he can make the deal he wants to make. Oscar can always spin a situation to meet his needs, and his completely slippery ethics are on full display here, as he tells his son, "People ought to help other people. But that's not always the way it happens. And so sometimes you got to think of yourself." By this logic, Oscar justifies theft by suggesting that Horace ought to have been generous with his money.
In the midst of the scheming greed of the Hubbards, the sickly Horace stands out as a kind of moral beacon, disapproving of a strategic marriage between Leo and Alexandra, and suspicious of Regina and her brothers. In contrast to the grasping Hubbard children, Horace is calmer and more stable in his sense of self. He has no grandiose ambitions, but simply wants to provide for his family, and it is this fiscal good sense that makes him a more ethical subject than his wife and her siblings.
The play is curious in that it does not have a conventional protagonist or antagonist. In some ways, Horace and Alexandra are the protagonists, yet they are secondary supporting characters. Meanwhile, the profit-obsessed Hubbard siblings are central to the action, and Regina's concerns and storylines are central to the plot, yet she is a villainous character in many ways. Lillian Hellman dramatizes the corruptive effect that money and greed has on people by presenting a rather ethically ambiguous set of dramatic circumstances.
