Sweet Bird of Youth: Act One, Scene Two

by Tennessee Williams
In Tennessee Williams's play, failed actor Chance Wayne takes up with fading starlet Alexandra del Lago and returns to his hometown of St. Cloud, Florida.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Foreword; Act One, Scene One; Act One, Scene Two; Act Two, Scene One; Act Two, Scene Two; Act Three
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. token
    something serving as a sign of something else
    All right, one more from the front of the book as a token of some satisfaction.
  2. matron
    a married woman who is staid and dignified
    The girls are young matrons, bridge-players, and the boys belong to the Junior Chamber of Commerce and some of them, clubs in New Orleans such as Rex and Comus and ride on the Mardi Gras floats.
  3. debutante
    a young woman making her formal entrance into society
    Millionaires' widows and wives and debutante daughters of such famous names as Vanderbrook and Masters and Halloway and Connaught, names mentioned daily in columns, whose credit cards are their faces....And...
  4. eccentric
    a person with an unusual or odd personality
    Eccentrics? Tolerance, even odd things they long for....
  5. tolerance
    willingness to respect the beliefs or practices of others
    Eccentrics? Tolerance, even odd things they long for....
  6. discipline
    a system of rules of conduct or method of practice
    I wasn't able to stand the goddam routine, discipline....
  7. speculation
    a hypothesis that has been formed by conjecturing
    When the war would be over, that scared me, that speculation.
  8. palpitation
    a rapid and irregular heart beat
    Nightmares and cold sweats at night, and I had palpitations, and on my leaves I got drunk and woke up in strange places with faces on the next pillow I had never seen before.
  9. discharge
    release from military service
    I got a medical discharge out of the service and I came home in civvies, then it was when I noticed how different it was, the town and the people in it.
  10. lap
    wash or flow against
    The water is just beginning to lap over her body like it desired her like I did and still do and will always, always.
  11. envy
    a desire to have something that is possessed by another
    Princess, the great difference between people in this world is not between the rich and the poor or the good and the evil, the biggest of all differences in this world is between the ones that had or have pleasure in love and those that haven't and hadn't any pleasure in love, but just watched it with envy, sick envy.
  12. omission
    leaving out or passing over something
    Didn't I tell you that Heavenly is the daughter of Boss Finley, the biggest political wheel in this part of the country? Well, if I didn't I made a serious omission.
  13. despise
    look down on with disdain or disgust
    PRINCESS: You could pretend it was true.
    CHANCE: If I didn't despise pretending!
  14. posture
    behave affectedly or unnaturally in order to impress others
    CHANCE [posturing]: I'm pretentious. I want to be seen in your car on the streets of St. Cloud.
  15. pretentious
    creating an appearance of importance or distinction
    CHANCE [posturing]: I'm pretentious. I want to be seen in your car on the streets of St. Cloud.
Created on Wed Feb 28 13:39:01 EST 2018 (updated Wed Mar 07 08:55:16 EST 2018)

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