Sweet Bird of Youth: Act Two, Scene One Summary & Analysis

Although Chance has mentioned Boss Finley to the Princess, this is the first time the man appears onstage. As the chief antagonist of the play, he reveals his dislike of Chance right away. Indeed, his aversion to Chance seemingly stems from the fact that Chance had sex with Heavenly when she was still quite young. In turn, Williams suggests that Boss Finley is upset by the idea that Chance “corrupted” what he most likely sees as his daughter’s purity by bringing her into the world of adulthood before she was ready.

Although it’s left vague what kind of “operation” Scudder performed on Heavenly, it’s clear that it was something Boss Finley doesn’t want people to know about, since he critiques Scudder for not handling the procedure “discreetly.” This obsession with secrecy makes sense, considering that Boss Finley is a political figure who wants to carefully manipulate how he presents himself to the public. What’s more, the fact that Heavenly had to get a secret “operation” in the first place—likely having to do with an STD—surely upsets Boss even more, causing him again to face the fact that Heavenly isn’t a virgin anymore.

When Boss Finley refers to Heavenly’s secret operation as “a whore’s operation,” he confirms the notion that her procedure—whatever it was—was the result of sleeping with Chance Wayne. What’s more, he reveals his deep investment in bigoted ideas of purity and innocence, believing that Chance has corrupted his otherwise perfect daughter, turning her from a girl into a “whore.

Throughout the play, Boss Finley fixates on the idea that Chance corrupted Heavenly. In this moment, though, Aunt Nonnie underhandedly suggests that Boss actually corrupted Chance, and though she doesn’t yet make clear how this is the case, the audience can guess that it must have something to do with the way Boss responded to Chance’s interest in his daughter. This shift of perspectives is important, as Williams explores the ways people can drive one another away from an original sense of wholeness and wellbeing. Indeed, while Boss Finley believes Chance corrupted Heavenly with his sexual exploits, Nonnie seems to think that Boss corrupted Chance with his hate and prejudice.

During this conversation, Tom Junior reveals Boss Finley’s hypocritical tendencies. Indeed, Boss Finley adamantly condemns Chance’s sexual promiscuity, but he himself apparently has a mistress. In this way, Williams demonstrates that people who criticize others for not upholding certain moral standards are often just as likely as anyone else to transgress against the very same set of values they so ardently advance.

The message that Miss Lucy has supposedly written on the mirror at the Royal Palms refers again to one of the play’s main themes: the idea that youth fades. Indeed, Boss Finley must suddenly face the notion that he’s no longer young enough to satisfy his lover. Worse, this has been put on public display, disparaging him in the public eye. For someone who cares so much about his image as a politician, this is surely devastating news.

Williams’s note about Boss Finley’s relationship with Heavenly is strange, as he calls attention to an uncomfortable “incestuous” dynamic while simultaneously trying to normalize this dynamic by saying that “almost any aging father” might feel mildly attracted to his daughter if she looks like his dead wife. In turn, he gives the audience a chance to look deeper into Boss Finley, who clearly harbors some complicated feelings about his daughter’s sexuality. What’s more, these feelings most likely fuel his desire to keep Heavenly innocent and young; to protect her from sexual beings like Chance (and, perhaps, his own repressed desires). On another note, it’s worth pointing out that he says Heavenly is “still” a beautiful girl, implying that she has indeed been corrupted and altered by her past experiences with Chance. Unfortunately for Heavenly, she seems to have internalized this idea, since she herself makes a morbid joke that she has died, suggesting that she believes her operation has changed her for the worse.

Interestingly enough, Heavenly apparently believes—like her father—that she has lost her purity, that both she and Chance are no longer “clean.” At the same time, though, she raises a difficult question: can other people be blamed for another’s loss of purity?  Heavenly believes that Chance went into the “wrong doors” because Boss Finley forced him to do so. Similarly, she blames her father for her own loss of innocence, insinuating that she wouldn’t have had pre-marital sex if he had simply allowed Chance to marry her in the first place. Although these are interesting points to consider, it’s also worth noting that Heavenly’s ideas here ignore her own agency and culpability, effectively foisting all responsibility on her father. In turn, this devalues her own authority, causing her to strip herself of any power or agency she might otherwise possess.

For Boss Finley, relationships are transactional. Rather than taking the time to help his wife through her difficult period of dying, he used his riches to buy her some semblance of happiness. However, he himself isn’t capable of much sentiment, which is why he coldly returned the clip after his wife died. As such, the audience sees that Boss’s romantic relationships have very little to do with actual emotions. In light of this, it’s rather unsurprising that he doesn’t care if Heavenly and Chance are in love or not: he doesn’t care at all about actual romantic feelings.

Heavenly has internalized her father’s ideas about youth, purity, and innocence. Indeed, she believes that George Scudder “cut the youth out of [her] body.” By saying this, she frames “youth” as a tangible thing, something that can be physically removed from the body. In reality, of course, youth isn’t quite so straightforward, and isn’t something a person can simply lose all of a sudden. Nonetheless, her belief that she is a “dry, cold, empty” “old woman” shows the extent to which she believes her sexual encounters with Chance have marred her youthful beauty and personal worth.

Once more, Boss Finley demonstrates his desire for Heavenly to be the symbol of unsexualized purity. However, he also reveals another motive here: not only does he want her to regain her innocence, he wants her to do it publicly so that he can benefit politically from her apparent reformation. In this way, Williams shows the audience that there is very little in Boss Finley’s life that he won’t politicize and manipulate to his advantage. While youth and purity are important to him personally, what he really wants to do is project a message of “stainless white” innocence to the voters he’s trying to win over. In addition, considering that Sweet Bird of Youth takes place during a period of racial integration in the South, this message—of “white” purity—also takes on a racist agenda.

Building upon his statement that Heavenly will represent the “stainless white of a virgin” when she stands next to him at the rally, Boss Finley transitions into a conversation about race relations in the South, explicitly addressing his bigoted belief that “white Southern youth” are “in danger” because of integration. According to him, Heavenly and Tom Junior will symbolize what white Southerners supposedly stand to lose if they integrate with black Southerners. Boss Finley has conflated his own obsession with sexual purity—and the corruption of youth—with the politics of fear regarding racial segregation.

Boss Finley uses his obsession with purity and corruption to fuel a racist agenda, this time making it all the more explicit that he condones “violent action” against people who “want to adulterate the pure white blood of the South.” In turn, the audience sees how truly racist he is, and one gets the sense that he is motivated first and foremost by fear (and certainly not by the “Voice of God”)—indeed, he thinks that he will lose his privileged status if true integration takes place in the South. Rather than interrogating his insecurities, he directs anger at people who he thinks might “corrupt” his way of life, which is why he not only encourages violence against black people, but also against Chance, who he thinks has “corrupted” his daughter. Boss’s hypocrisy is also highlighted by the fact that he invokes the “Voice of God”—who disapproves of adultery—and then immediately goes to see his mistress.