Essay Questions

Why does Baby accuse Jake of class prejudice?

There are two levels of employee at the resort. There are Ivy League student who work mostly as waiters, and there are working class dancers and members of the camp's entertainment team. The students are treated very well by Max, the owner of Kellermans, and they are also encouraged to be players, and flirt shamelessly with the daughters of the regular guests, regardless of whether or not they are actually attracted to them. By contrast, Baby hears Max demeaning the working class staff, speaking to them without respect in a mocking manner.

Robbie, who is a student at Yale, is a womanizer with no morals whatsoever. He gets Penny pregnant and washes his hands of her as soon as he learns that she is carrying his child. He also refuses to give her even half of the cost of the abortion, as if he bears no responsibility for the pregnancy whatsoever. However, because he is a Yale student, and going to medical school, Jake thinks that he is an upstanding young man and offers him money for his studies. By contrast, he thinks the worst of Johnny; he assumes that he is the father, because his impression of the working class staff is that they are in and out of bed with each other. He also believes him to be an unsuitable date for his daughter.

Baby tells Jake that he is prejudiced because he is not basing his judgements on their actual personality, behavior or his experience of them; he is basing his judgements on their status.

Lisa is shocked by Baby and Johnny's performance. Why is this?

The sisters do not seem to be very close. Lisa is almost dismissive of Baby, and her nickname doesn't help. She is the baby of the family but she is no longer a baby; Lisa has not really processed this yet and still treats her as if she is completely irrelevant, and just a child. It would not occur to Lisa that someone like Johnny would be attracted to her sister and it would certainly not occur to her that anyone would take her seriously.

Lisa also assumes that she is the center of their family's world, and by definition, the center of attention from those outside of the family. In the scenario of an attractive male dancer falling in love with a female guest and inviting her up onto the stage, Lisa would definitely believe that she would be the girl chosen and not her sister. She also in some ways shares her father's class prejudices; she does not set her sights on the working class staff but the wait staff, even if she knows they are players and not that serious about her.