Why does Milly cry?

Yep, I think that's exactly it. I think it was a mix of jealously and the idea that their lives were not "good enough" for the Wheelers. It probably had something to do with losing her friends too. It's possible she was unhappy with a housewife role, herself.

To me, it seems obvious that Milly had feelings for Frank, just like Shep had for April. I think several things point to this:

1) She seems really eager to go out and have a drink with Frank (and April) in the beginning.

2) When she and Shep is having the Wheelers over, Shep notices that she really dresses up, that could be because she wants to look good in front of Frank.

3) At the club, she also seems very eager to dance with Frank, and when she gets sick she is very apologetic about it.

I thought they were tears of relief- April is willing to leave her life to go to Paris and work while her husband finds himself. She was scared that her own husband might get some ideas of his own. She was relieved that she didn't have to do something so drastic in order to keep him.

She's unhappy and wishes she were free too. As long as April is miserable with her, at least she has company.

Personally, I thought it was simply because she was afraid of Shep being or getting involved with April.

... the hardest thing in this world is to live in it...

I think Milly secretly felt trapped and stifled like April did, but Milly had been comforting herself with the idea that there was nothing that could be done about it -- that this was just how life inevitably was, and there wasn't any other possible lifestyle available.

Then April and Frank (apparently) discover a (relatively) simple way out of the 1950s-suburban-nightmare that all the characters are stuck in, and (again, apparently) they have the will to take that exit -- and all of a sudden Milly is faced with the stark realization that she and Shep also *could* escape if they wanted to, and that it's really only their own social conditioning and fears that keeps them trapped -- and then, even after realizing this, Milly realizes that they will nevertheless go on just as before, trapped but pretending to be happy, because that is what is expected of them.

TL;DR: Milly was crying because she realized that she and Shep were their own jailers, and they would never let themselves free from their self-imposed prison.

She was an overly-sensitive type, she merely cried because her friends/neighbours were leaving and she was going to miss them. Nothing else.












Ashmi any question

Envy.