52 pages • 1 hour read
A Lie Of The Mind: A Play in Three Acts
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Important Quotes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of gender discrimination, ableism, mental illness, cursing, illness or death, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and domestic violence.
“JAKE. I never even seen it comin’. I shoulda’ known. Why didn’t I see it comin’? I been good for so long.
FRANKIE. Just try not to think about it for right now, Jake. Okay? Just try to let go of the thought of it.
JAKE. It’s not a thought. Don’t gimme that Zen shit.
FRANKIE. The picture then. Whatever—
JAKE. It’s not a picture either! It’s her. I see her. She’s right here with me now!”
(Act I, Scene 1, Page 10)
The contrast between Jake and Frankie highlights Jake’s unwillingness to change anything about himself. He says he should have “seen it comin’,” implying that he has abused Beth before, but he also rejects Frankie’s suggestion of avoiding the thought “for right now.” Frankie is thinking about how Jake can tackle this issue later on while Jake is rejecting the idea of confronting his own problems, foreshadowing his depression and eventual departure.
“BETH. Yore the dog. Yore the dog they send.
MIKE. I’m Mike. I’m your brother.
BETH. Mike the dog. (She spits in his face. Pause)
MIKE. I’m gonna stay with you now.
BETH. You gant take in me. You gant take me back.
MIKE. I’m not going to take you anywhere. We’ll stay right here until you’re all better.”
(Act I, Scene 2, Page 12)
Though Mike is one of the more rational characters in the play, this scene points to a specific family structure. Beth calls him “the dog they send,” as though Mike is subservient to Baylor, and even in saying he will stay with Beth, Mike still emphasizes “until you’re all better.” Mike came to the hospital to get Beth and bring her home, which Beth recognizes as being moved from Jake’s possession to Baylor’s, with Mike as an errand boy between them.
“JAKE. Now. Why now? Why am I missing her now, Frankie? Why not then? When she was there? Why am I afraid I’m gonna’ lose her when she’s already gone? And this fear—this fear swarms through me—floods my whole body ‘til there’s nothing left. Nothing left of me. And then it turns—It turns to a fear for my whole life. Like my whole life is lost from losing her. Gone. That I’ll die like this. Lost. Just lost.
FRANKIE. It’s okay, Jake.”
(Act I, Scene 3, Pages 17-18)
Jake’s struggle is essentially a battle against becoming his father, who mistreated Lorraine and left her. Jake’s fear in this passage, while framed as a fear of losing
