Curse of the Starving Class Summary
Sam Shepard

Curse of the Starving Class Summary

Act I

The play opens on Wesley, who is loading broken pieces of the family's front door into a wheelbarrow. His mother, Ella enters, and Wesley and she talk about the events of the night before. Wesley embarks upon a long monologue narrating the events of the previous night before leaving, at which point Ella begins talking to nobody in particular about the start of menstruation. As she speaks, her daughter, Emma enters and joins the conversation in progress. When Ella asks what Emma is carrying, Emma tells her that they are the materials for her 4-H demonstration on how to cut up a frying chicken, and then she immediately starts looking for her chicken in the refrigerator. Emma decides that Ella boiled her chicken and storms out.

Wesley re-enters and starts yelling to the offstage Emma about her chicken. The three of them begin arguing about whether they are the... View more of the Curse of the Starving Class Summary