Mayme Character Analysis in Intimate Apparel

A black sex worker for whom Esther sews lingerie. Though Esther disapproves of Mayme's line of work, the two are close, genuine friends and often share their dreams with each other. Mayme initially moved to New York in the hope of playing ragtime piano in fancy clubs in Europe; however, these dreams have, as far as Mayme is concerned, proven unattainable. Though she still plays piano for herself and her clients, Mayme believes that dreaming and planning are foolish and, especially in her case, would take away from her ability to do her job. Though she recognizes that she has a relatively good job in a safer saloon, Mayme is also exasperated by her clients, as most of them are rough or overly handsy with her. Many of the clothing items she commissions from Esther are based off of corsets that Esther made for Mrs. Van Buren, the "Fifth Avenue lady," while Mayme laughs to learn that Mrs. Van Buren wants to wear corsets like those commonly worn by sex workers and dancers. Despite Mayme's initial skepticism of George, she helps Esther draft letters to him and, unbeknownst to her, takes him on as a client in the weeks after he comes to New York to marry Esther. George's kindness, gentleness, and generosity—he gives Mayme the smoking jacket that Esther made him as a wedding gift—rekindles Mayme's belief in romance and reaffirms her insistence that it's none of her business if her job harms the marriages of the men she sees. She reevaluates this when Esther finally admits that George is her husband. The two women both let George go, thereby asserting their independence.

Mayme Quotes in Intimate Apparel

The Intimate Apparel quotes below are all either spoken by Mayme or refer to Mayme. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Mayme: All the pawing and pulling. For a dollar they think they own you.

Related Characters: Mayme (speaker), Mrs. Van Buren, Esther

Page Number and Citation: 18

Explanation and Analysis:

In this passage, Mayme angrily shows Esther her ripped silk robe and complains about how her clients treat her roughly and without consideration. As a sex worker, Mayme is physically intimate with men every day that she works, but the way that she talks about sex indicates that it's not fulfilling or emotionally compelling for her. This sets up the idea that simply having sexual contact with someone doesn't mean that the experience is imbued with true intimacy, and it therefore shifts the play's hierarchy of intimacy to suggest that far more important than physical contact is emotional intimacy. Notably, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscip

Esther: You know that white lady I talk about sometime, hold on...She keep asking me what they be wearing up in the Tenderloin. All that money and high breeding and she want what you wearing.

Mayme: No kidding?

Esther: What she got, you want, what you got, she want.

Related Characters: Esther (speaker), Mayme (speaker), Mrs. Van Buren

Page Number and Citation: 19-20

Explanation and Analysis:

As Esther laces Mayme into her new corset—which is modeled after one Esther made for Mrs. Van Buren—she notes that each woman wants what the other has. The fact that Mrs. Van Buren wants what Mayme has speaks to the way in which affluent white people, like Mrs. Van Buren, idealize and fetishize lower class, and in this case specifically black culture. For Mrs. Van Buren, it's safe and fun to dress like a sex worker, given that she never has to grapple with what it actually entails to do that kind of work. In Mayme's case, Mrs. Van Buren Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores.

Mayme: Let me tell you, so many wonderful ideas been conjured in this room. They just get left right in that bed there, or on this piano bench. They are scattered all over this room. Esther, I ain't waiting for anybody to rescue me. My Panama man come and gone long time now. It sweet that he write you but, my dear, it ain't real.

Related Characters: Mayme (speaker), Esther, George

Related Symbols: The Crazy Quilt

Page Number and Citation: 22

Explanation and Analysis:

When Esther confides in Mayme that she's been saving money in her crazy quilt to open a beauty parlor for black ladies and mentions that George wrote her again, Mayme encourages Esther to see both of those dreams as the impossible dreams that she believes they are. For Mayme, she's spent her life dreaming about what she could do with her life beyond sex work, but her experience has taught her that those dreams are more effective as amusement to pass the time than as actual goals for the future. She sees that dwelling on how to make those dreams Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. A

Mayme: And do you love him?

Esther: As much as you can love a man you ain't seen. I'm thirty-five, Mayme, and he wants to marry me. And there ain't gonna be no more opportunities I'm afraid. I've told him yes.

Related Characters: Mayme (speaker), Esther (speaker), George

Page Number and Citation: 30

Explanation and Analysis:

Here, Esther explains her reasoning for accepting George's marriage proposal. The way that Esther frames this shows clearly that as far as she's concerned, 35 is the end of the road for her, and if she doesn't marry now, she'll never get an opportunity. The truth of this is called into question later, when Mrs. Dickson admits that she married her husband at age 37. However, it's telling that Esther seems to truly believe that there won't be any more opportunities for her, and her belief that this is the way it's bound to be shows how trapped she is Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Molli

Esther: How you know she ain't a good person? And he just saying what you want to hear. That his words are a smooth tonic to make you give out what ain't free. How you know his wife ain't good?

Mayme: I don't know. But do it matter?

Esther: Yeah it do. You ever think about where they go after they leave here? Who washes their britches after they been soiled in your bed?

Related Characters: Esther (speaker), Mayme (speaker), George

Related Symbols: The Smoking Jacket

Page Number and Citation: 49

Explanation and Analysis:

Once Esther figures out that the man called "Songbird" that Mayme has been seeing is George, she changes tack and encourages Mayme to think more critically about what she's doing and the women who suffer because their husbands hire her. For Mayme, this request essentially asks her to humanize a swath of society that, in order to do her job and be able to sleep at night, she can't: worrying about how wives feel about her would hinder her ability to do her job and make a living. While Esther has, for the most part, been able to ignore this, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delect

Mayme: The world changing and he wants big strong horses. He made me laugh. He promised to take me out someplace special, but I didn't have nothing nice to wear. And honestly it made me think about how long it been since I done something for myself. Gone someplace like you said, where a colored woman could go to put up her feet and get treated good for a change. And I see the dice rolling, and I think Lord, God, wouldn't a place like that be wonderful. But every time the dice roll, that place is a little further away. Until it all gone.

Related Characters: Mayme (speaker), Esther, George

Related Symbols: The Crazy Quilt

Page Number and Citation: 55

Explanation and Analysis:

Once Mayme and Esther are on the same page about George and Mayme realizes that she's been seeing him, Mayme shares her account of how George spent all the money that Esther had saved in her crazy quilt last night. Mayme's assessment of how silly it is that George wanted draft horses in a changing world suggests that George's version of success isn't something that's even attainable in the characters' world: the draft horses may look powerful and make George feel powerful, but Mayme understands that within a few years, they'll be empty and useless symbols of power. Then, when Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat.

Esther: LET HIM GO! Let him go. He ain't real, he a duppy, a spirit. We be chasing him forever.

Related Characters: Esther (speaker), George, Mayme

Page Number and Citation: 55

Explanation and Analysis:

When George knocks on the door for his appointment with Mayme, Esther shouts at Mayme to let George go. Esther has finally learned that she allowed George to run away with her heart, her trust, and her life savings—because of George, she's lost everything. Counseling Mayme to let George go, too, allows Esther to pass on to Mayme what she's learned and hopefully, save Mayme from the same fate. This, the play suggests, is one of the most important things that friends can do for each other. In this way, Esther's advice here mirrors Mayme's advice from the first act, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur

Mayme Character Timeline in Intimate Apparel

The timeline below shows where the character Mayme appears in Intimate Apparel. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

In a bedroom with a canopy bed, Mayme sits at a piano, playing a frenzied rag. She trembles angrily and her silk robe... (full context)

Race, Class, and Exploitation Theme Icon

Mayme sits back at the piano and plays a slower rag. Esther compliments it, and Mayme... (full context)

Esther assures Mayme that she can try it on and says that she made one for a lady... (full context)

This piques Mayme's interest, and she says that it sounds like Esther is sweet on Mr. Marks. Esther... (full context)

Mayme sits down on the bed and says that she's pretending to be a concert pianist... (full context)

Esther admits that she has some money saved in the lining of her crazy quilt. Mayme sighs that the quilt sounds wonderful to a poor woman, but Esther says seriously that... (full context)

Esther suggests that Mayme could try harder with her piano playing, but Mayme cuts her off and says that... (full context)

Mayme is shocked that Esther hasn't already told George what she looks like, but Esther insists... (full context)

Mayme hangs stockings up to dry in her bedroom and asks Esther why she's smiling so... (full context)

Esther hopes that she's not making a mistake, and Mayme reassures her. Mayme admits that she was engaged once to a mortician's apprentice who hated... (full context)

Mayme sits at her piano and Mrs. Van Buren appears in her boudoir, smoking and drinking.... (full context)

...sex, and Esther allows him to pull her onto the bed. The lights fade as Mayme and Mrs. Van Buren, in their matching corsets, come onstage and stand over Esther and... (full context)

...husband scared her. Esther says that George is sturdy and handsome, with a musical voice. Mayme and Mrs. Van Buren retreat, and Esther says that after George fell asleep, she put... (full context)

...cash on the bed. Esther takes it and says that she's not the coward. In Mayme's boudoir, George enters and sits behind her at the piano after putting money on top... (full context)

Esther enters Mayme's boudoir. Mayme is excited and says that she's been saving up for something new. She... (full context)

Mayme admits that this man has a rich wife that causes him trouble, and he talks... (full context)

Mayme insists that it doesn't matter. Esther asks Mayme if she ever thinks about the women... (full context)

...in her hair. She pulls off her dress and is wearing a corset much like Mayme's. She strikes an awkward pose and tells George to open his eyes. George is visibly... (full context)

Mayme lounges in bed, wrapped in the smoking jacket. Someone knocks at the door and Mayme... (full context)

...that she stayed up all night, waiting for him to come home. She asks if Mayme knows where George is, and says that she's wearing the smoking jacket that Esther made... (full context)

Esther asks why Mayme didn't stop George, and Mayme says that George belongs to her too. She hands over... (full context)

George knocks on the door, and Esther asks Mayme to not answer it. George knocks and shakes the door, shouting for Mayme. Esther shouts... (full context)

Mayme Character Analysis

Mayme Quotes in Intimate Apparel

Act 1, Scene 4 Quotes

Act 1, Scene 6 Quotes

Act 2, Scene 4 Quotes

Act 2, Scene 5 Quotes

Mayme Character Timeline in Intimate Apparel