The Graduate Scene 5 Summary

Built Ford Tough

  • Back at the hotel room, Benjamin insists on having a conversation with Mrs. Robinson. All they do is have sex, apparently, and he wants to talk about something.
  • She suggests art as a conversation topic, but then acts like she doesn't know anything about it.
  • He asks her what she did during the day, and when she mentions cooking dinner for her husband, he asks her how she manages to evade her husband to get to the hotel.
  • She explains that he takes sleeping pills to go to bed, and that they don't sleep in the same room anyway. They have sex very rarely.
  • Mrs. Robinson gets undressed, but Ben makes her continue talking. She says she doesn't love her husband, but she doesn't hate him either.
  • As Ben continues asking her questions, she reveals she got married because she got pregnant with Elaine. She had to give up college, where she was an art major—despite just having said she wasn't interested in art.
  • Ben teases her when she admits that Elaine was conceived in a Ford.
  • When he jokes about taking Elaine on a date, Mrs. Robinson tells him not to take her out. Ben gets her to say that she thinks Ben isn't good enough for Elaine, which precipitates an argument where Ben says he feels disgusted with himself over the affair and doesn't like spending time with a broken-down alcoholic like Mrs. Robinson.
  • He threatens to break off the affair, but she backs off, telling him that he's good enough for Elaine but that they wouldn't be right for each other.
  • But she makes him promise he won't take Elaine out. Then they get back to business.