The Autumn Garden, Act 1 Summary

The first act introduces the characters staying as summer guests at the Tuckerman house "in a summer resort on the Gulf of Mexico". There is the quietly acerbic, slightly bitter General Griggs and his chatty, superficial Southern wife Rose (who, as private conversation reveals, are beginning the process of divorcing). There is the Ellis family - son Frederick (an aspiring writer), mother Carrie (domineering but insecure) and grandmother Mary (opinionated and outspoken). Conversation reveals that Frederick is working with a fellow writer named Payson, and that Carrie feels that the family is suffering because the two men are spending too much time together. The establishment is run by Constance (flighty and anxious) with the help of her niece Sophie (an immigrant from Germany - nervous, lonely and homesick). Conversation reveals that Sophie and Frederick are planning to...