Manhasset is Willie Keith’s home after the Caine is decommissioned and the setting for his uneasy return to civilian life. He arrives there with Mrs. Keith, but homecoming does not settle the questions he carries from the war: he resists the return to his mother’s care and remains intent on finding May Wynn.

The Return Home

After completing the decommissioning duties aboard the Caine, Willie is driven from the yard gate by Mrs. Keith in her new tan Cadillac. She has been making the trip to Bayonne, New Jersey, every day since the ship arrived. The drive back to Manhasset reverses an earlier passage: his mother had taken him to the Navy’s gates, and now she brings him back from them. Willie experiences the return as the end of his sailor life, not as a welcome restoration of his former self.

The Household and Its Silences

Mrs. Keith hopes Willie will live with her again in the big, empty house. She has noticed how markedly he has changed since the carefree young man of three years earlier: his eyes, gestures, bearing, and voice all seem altered. Wanting him close, she nevertheless avoids bringing up May Wynn because she fears prompting him to declare his independence. Willie reads that silence differently, taking it as a sign that his mother assumes she has finally won their struggle over May. Manhasset therefore gathers two distinct kinds of unease under one roof: his mother’s fear of losing him and his mistaken sense that she is simply refusing to discuss the woman he wants.

A Point of Departure

Willie has been unable to find May Wynn and has repeatedly called her agent, Marty Rubin, without reaching him. From home in Manhasset, Willie finally speaks with Marty and asks him to come into town because the matter is important. When Willie presses to know whether May is all right or married, Marty tells him she is not married but continues to insist on meeting in person. The exchange makes Manhasset a temporary base rather than a settled destination: Willie has returned to his mother’s house, but his attention is already directed outward, toward the unresolved question of May and the life he hopes to reclaim.