nce with him. He tries to help her with her self-consciousness, and the two of them are starting to have a wonderful time, but they jostle the table and knock over the unicorn. The horn breaks off. Jim apologizes but Laura tells him not to worry. She can pretend the unicorn had an operation to make it feel less freakish. Jim speaks admiringly of Laura's character, and then he begins to praise her looks. He tells her that she is pretty. Laura is beside herself with shy happiness from this praise. Then, suddenly Jim kisses her. Immediately, he seems to regret the kiss. Awkwardly, he admits to Laura that he is engaged. Laura's face shows a look of terrible desolation. She gives him the broken unicorn as a souvenir. Then she goes to the Victrola and winds it up. Amanda rushes in, only to hear Jim's announcement that he has to leave. When Amanda tells Jim that he should come again, he tells her about his plans to marry his current girlfriend. He also mentions that no one at the warehouse knows about the engagement. After Jim leaves, Amanda, furious, calls in Tom. She accuses Tom of playing a practical joke on them, by intentionally bringing in another woman's fianc to disgrace them. She is visibly shaken; the evening has been expensive for the Wingfields, and her dreams for her daughter have been shattered. Angered by her accusations and not willing to put up with her foolishness, Tom tells her that he is going to the movies. She accuses him of selfishness, and says that he never thinks of them, "a mother deserted, an unmarried sister who's crippled and has no job." Infuriated, Tom leaves. Tom, as narrator, then addresses the audience from the fire escape, telling us that soon after that night he went down the fire escape one last time and left St. Louis forever. As he gives this final speech, Amanda and Laura are visible through a transparent fourth wall that drops down into place in front of them. This closing speech is one of the most fam...
