The Graduate Scene 7 Summary

Completely Baked

  • When Benjamin arrives to pick up Elaine the next day, Mrs. Robinson comes out and gets in the car. She threatens to tell Elaine about the affair if Ben insists on going out with her.
  • To pre-empt her, Ben gets out and runs into the Robinsons' house. Elaine isn't fully dressed yet, but Ben goes into her room, and he says he has something to tell her about the woman he had the affair with.
  • Mrs. Robinson arrives outside the door, and Elaine realizes the truth. She screams at Ben to get out.
  • Elaine heads back to Berkeley, leaving Ben to pine.
  • One day, he announces to his parents that he's going to marry Elaine Robinson. They're overjoyed, until he explains that she doesn't realize they're going to get married—and she doesn't even like him.
  • He insists on going up to Berkeley to convince her to marry him, even though his dad thinks it sounds like "half-baked" idea.
  • In Berkeley, Ben moves into a rooming-house run by a suspicious landlord named Mr. McCleery, who thinks Ben might be an "outside agitator." (There were a lot of them, anti-war agitators, on college campuses back then.)
  • Ben manages to meet Elaine on campus. She's not happy to see him, but not completely outraged, either.
  • He follows her to the zoo, where she's meeting some dude. When she asks him why he's in Berkeley, he explains that he's sitting in on classes even though he's not enrolled.
  • Elaine introduces him to her date, Carl Smith. Ben's polite and pleasant, although it tears him up inside.