38 pages • 1 hour read
John GuareSix Degrees of Separation
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Sections 9-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Section 9 Summary
Kitty and Larkin appear on stage and report that they had been leaving a roller disco when they “saw a body on the street” (92). A young man had “jumped from above” (92) and died on the pavement.
The stage fades to darkness before lighting up Ouisa, Flan, Elizabeth, and the Detective. Elizabeth says, “He took our money. He took my life. Rick’s dead! You bet your life I’ll press charges” (93), and it becomes apparent that the young man who committed suicide was Rick. The detective tells Ouisa and Flan to find Paul as they now “have a case” (93).
The detective and Elizabeth leave and Ouisa and Flan begin dressing to go to “a black-tie auction—Sotheby’s” (95), well prepared to spend “[w]ell over twenty-five million” (94) on a Henri Matisse painting. Ouisa is on the phone to Tess, who claims that she is going to get married and go to Afghanistan, when Paul calls on another line. Ouisa puts her daughter on hold to speak to him and he reports that he “saw the story in the paper. I didn’t know the boy killed himself” (97).
Ouisa tells Paul, “You have to turn yourself in” (97) because, “You need help” (98). Paul asks, “Would you help me?” (98). Ouisa is reluctant, insisting that, “You were lunatic!” and asking, “Do you have AIDS? Are you infected?” (98). She asks him what he wants from them and he replies, “Everlasting friendship” (99). She says that, “Nobody has that,” but Paul insists that she does.
Paul and Ouisa discuss museums and art and Paul asks her to take him to see the Sistine Chapel. Ouisa is shocked and reminds him, “Take you to see it? Paul, they think you might have murdered someone!” (101). Flan enters, realizes that Paul is on the phone, and goes to “call that detective” (102).
The other line rings. It is Tess again and she tells Flan that, “I’m getting married and going to Afghanistan” (102). When Flan says, “We cannot talk about this now,” Tess insists that, “I’m going to ruin my life and get married and throw away everything you want me to be because it’s the only way to hurt you!” (102).
Tess leaves the stage. Flan calls the detective, who tells him to find out where Paul is. Ouisa suggests that Paul come to their house, but he suspects that they will “have the cops waiting” (103). Ouisa asks him to “trust us,” and when he asks why, she says, “because we like you” (103).
Section 10 Summary
Paul offers to “come and make a feast for you” (103) but Ouisa says he cannot because they are going to Sotheby’s. Paul says that he will join them, pointing out that he “was helpful last time” (105). Flan takes the phone and admits that Paul was a help in the previous art deal.
Excited, Paul says that he “was thinking maybe that’s what I should do is what you do—in art but making money out of art” (105). Flan tries to dissuade him, pointing out that he is unqualified. Paul says that he is a fast learner and asks, “Do your kinds want to—” and Flan admits that, “No it’s not really a profession you hand down” (106).
Ouisa takes the phone back and asks Paul for his real name. Paul says that, “If you let me stay with you, I’ll tell you. That night was the happiest night I ever had” (106), adding that, “You let me use all the parts of myself that night” (107).
When Paul tells Ouisa that his thesis was actually just ideas from someone else’s graduation speech and that the food he cooked was all “[o]ther people’s recipes (107), she says that, “Everything is somebody else’s” (107). Paul says, “Not your children. Not your life” (107). She admits that this is true, and Paul points out that she does not sound happy about it.
Paul says that he will tell Ouisa his name and then says, “It’s Paul Poitier-Kittredge. It’s a hyphenated name” (109). She repeats that he needs help and tells him to turn himself in, as the sooner he does so, the sooner he can start a new life. When Paul asks for her help again, Ouisa “pauses, and makes a decision” (109), agreeing to help him if he turns himself in.
Paul asks Ouisa if she will send “books and polaroids of you and cassettes? And letters?” (109) while he is in prison, and if she will visit him and “wear your best clothes and knock em dead” (110). Ouisa agrees. Paul asks her to take him to the police station because, “If they don’t know you’re special, they kill you” (110). Ouisa reassures him, saying, “I don’t think they’ll kill you” until Paul points out that, “Mrs. Louisa Kittredge, I am black” (110) and she agrees to “deliver [Paul] to them with kindness and affection” (110).
Paul continues to plan out his future life with the Kittredges, inviting himself to “come out and work for you” and “learn all the trade” and “live with you” (111). Ouisa deflects this last suggestion by saying Paul should have a place of his own and agreeing to help him find one. She even agrees to give him “Philadelphia Chippendale chairs” (112), and tells Paul that “[w]e love you” and predicts that “[w]e’ll have a wonderful life” (115).
Ouisa eventually agrees to take Paul to the police before the auction. Paul tells her where he is. Flan reports this to the detective and Ouisa insists that “[w]e promised we would bring him to you. He’s special. Remember that he’s special. Honor our promise.” (115). However, they get caught in traffic and when they arrive and ask if anyone has seen Paul, they learn that “the police were there, had arrested a young man. Dragged him kicking, screaming into a squad car” (116).
Ouisa tries to track Paul down but is waved off by the police and judicial service, in part because she does not know Paul’s real name and they “weren’t family” (116). Flan asks her why “it means so much” (116) to her and she admits that, Paul “did more for us in a few hours than our children ever did. He wanted to be your child. Don’t let that go” (117).
Ouisa predicts that they will turn the whole incident into “an anecdote to dine out on” (117) and “become these human juke boxes spilling out these anecdotes” (117-118). She begins to question her life, arguing that “it was an experience. How do we keep the experience?” (118), and asking Flan “how much of your life can youaccount for?” (118). Flan dismisses this by asking Ouisa, “Are you drunk?” (118) and continues to celebrate the fact that the “Cezanne sale went through. We are rich” (118). Ouisa demands an answer and Flan says that he can account for “All! I am a gambler!” (118). Ouisa concludes that they are “a terrible match” (119).
Ouisa tells the audience that “Time passes” (119) and reports that she read about a young man hanging himself with a shirt in Riker’s Island prison. She asks, “Was it the pink shirt?” […] Was it Paul?” (119). Flan says he is sure it was not Paul and tells the audience that they “have to go. An auction” (119). Ouisa looks up and sees Paul dressed in the pink shirt. Paul says that the Kandinsky is “painted on two sides” (120) and vanishes. Ouisa “considers” and “smiles” (120) and the painting begins to revolve once more.
Sections 9-10 Analysis
As the play draws to a close, both the audience and Paul learn the consequences of his deceptions. When he reads about Rick’s suicide in the paper, Paul calls Ouisa to ask for help. The conversation takes up much of the rest of the play, returning to key themes and demonstrating the development of Ouisa’s character.
It is significant that Ouisa chooses to put her daughter on hold in order to speak to Paul. Ouisa gets little joy from her actual family and is starting to accept this. Part of the reason she gets so little from them is because they are spoiled, ungrateful, and spiteful, something Tess makes explicit when she says, “I’m going to ruin my life and get married and throw away everything you want me to be because it’s the only way to hurt you!” (102).
In this conversation—perhaps as she “pauses, and makes a decision” (109) to help Paul—Ouisa accepts that she values Paul over her actual children. Later, she explains this when she admits to Flan that Paul “did more for us in a few hours than our children ever did” and reminds him that, “He wanted to be your child. Don’t let that go” (117).
Ouisa’s transformation is complete when, after the conversation, she begins to question her life and Flan’s values, asking him “how much of your life can you account for?” (118). From this, she ultimately concludes that the shallow, money-focused man who would be happy to turn the whole incident into “an anecdote to dine out on” (117) is actually “a terrible match” (119) for her, now that her life has become more “wild and vivid” (3) thanks to Paul’s influence.
Throughout the conversation, Paul also becomes more and more explicit about his wish to become part of Ouisa’s family. He describes the night with them as “the happiest night I ever had” (106) and one in which he was able to “use all the parts of myself” (107), including the intellectualism and cookery skills that he is not normally able to utilize because of his social and economic position. More than this, he goes on to plan out a new life with the Kittredges, inviting himself to live with them and work in Flan’s highly-lucrative, art-dealing world, once again using his imagination to “transform [his] nightmares into dreams” that may “become [his] bedrock” (63).
In the end, the audience does not know whether any of this will happen. As Paul points out, “Mrs. Louisa Kittredge, I am black” (110), and therefore subject to a far greater risk of police violence. This turns out to be true, as he is violently arrested before Ouisa can get to him. In an ironic return to the family theme, Ouisa and Flan cannot find any information about Paul’s location and treatment because they “weren’t family” (116). Despite not knowing what happens to Paul, the audience is left with little doubt that he changed Ouisa’s life. This is figuratively portrayed by Paul observing in the play’s final line that the Kandinsky is “painted on two sides” (120), highlighting the fact that he has helped Ouisa move towards a more “wild and vivid” (3) life.
