The Square Root of Wonderful

The Square Root of Wonderful Summary | Act 1 Summary

"The Square Root of Wonderful" is the story of a woman, Mollie, who must choose between the renewed attentions of her ex-husband, Philip Lovejoy, and those of a new man in her life, John Tucker. The play takes place on an apple farm in New York in the 1950s and opens in the living room of the farmhouse where Mollie is comforting her son, Paris, who has cried out from a nightmare. The nightmare revolves around a burglar who is revealed to be Philip Lovejoy, Paris' father.

Mollie has been awake discussing plans with her new tenant, John, with whom she has recently fallen in love. Mollie had picked John up on the road where his car had broken down just ten days ago and Paris is aghast that John could have such feelings for Mollie in such a short time.

John admits to Mollie that he was struck instantly with love for her but Mollie holds him at bay because falling in love for her is not a casual affair. When Mollie first fell in love with Philip, all it took was one kiss and she was washed away with emotion. The two of them made love the day they met and her parents made them get married the following day. Mollie hopes to convince John that there is no such thing as a simple kiss where she is concerned; it always leads quickly to heavier emotional attachments.

John tries to glean whether Mollie is still in love with Philip and she hesitates, firmly believing that Philip had cast a spell on her and that she'll always love him even though they are now divorced. Philip had come from a prominent family and is the only son of a mother who had higher ambitions for him than he had for himself. Consequently, Philip always struggled emotionally with his goals of being a writer as opposed to those of his mother for him.

Philip's sister, Sister, has never married and works in the library where she met the only man she ever loved. Mollie loves Sister for her gentle ways, which are in stark contrast to Philip's violent tendencies. However, in spite of all his emotional and physical abuse toward her, Mollie always took Philip back because of his ultimately redemptive charm.

Mollie tells John that Philip is a writer and had been quite successful at one time with the publishing of a book. However, his later attempts were not as well received, precipitating long bouts of depression and a suicide attempt. Since that time, Philip has been in a sanatorium, from which he is being released tomorrow.

In anticipation of Philip's homecoming, his mother, Mother Lovejoy, and Sister have arrived to stay at Mollie's house. Sister interrupts John and Mollie's conversation and blatantly asks Mollie whether she still loves Philip and if she plans to marry him for the third time. Mollie doesn't want to re-marry Philip, but she cannot shake the spell he has on her.

Sister also realizes the feelings that Mollie seems to have for John and advises Mollie not to hurt him. Mollie replies that she couldn't because he's in love with her. Mother Lovejoy cannot sleep and has joined the two women to reiterate what Sister has said: that Philip still loves Mollie and wants to marry her again. Mother Lovejoy enjoys a comfortable financial situation but feels is would be much more economical for her if Philip were to re-marry Mollie instead of her paying for more time in the sanatorium in the future.

Mother Lovejoy and Sister leave the room to return to bed and John comes back into the house and asks Mollie to marry him. He had been married once before to a woman who was not faithful to him and he wants to establish a true love and secure family at this point in his life. Mollie is touched by John's proposal and his poetic notions of love. She asks to sleep on the question and that satisfies him enough so that he leaves to go to his sleeping quarters in the barn.

Mollie dreamily considers the conversation she just had with John, unaware that Philip has entered the house and is watching her from the doorway. He has walked from the train station in order to arrive home sooner. Startled at Philip's sudden appearance and questions about the man who just left, Mollie tries to recover and commends Philip on his personal progress at the sanatorium.

Philip is bored with talk of therapy. He wants only to feel and to live again, and he wants Mollie to be a part of that with him. He has plans to write another novel and even though he can't say that he loves her, he admits that he needs her in order to go on. Taken in by Philip's spell over her, Mollie retreats to the bedroom with him.