Why Johnny Said, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner"

Johnny Castle has arrived as the talent show is ending. Most of the audience is seated in close rows in the middle of the ballroom. A few people, however, are seated at tables along the walls.

Seated at such a table are Jake, Marjorie and Baby Houseman. Lisa is on the stage participating in the show.

I suppose that sitting at the tables along the walls is much more comfortable than sitting in the close rows. The people sitting at the tables have more space to move around. They are able to drink beverages, to eat snacks and to face each other as they chat. The women have space to put down their purses.

Each table is covered with a beautiful linen table cloth, on which stands an beautiful enclosed candle that provides a soft, romantic light. Perhaps the candle emits a pleasant fragrance.

The seats at the table along the walls were reserved for favored guests. Perhaps the Houseman family is favored because Jake is Max Kellerman's doctor. Perhaps Max knows that Jake intends to give a generous donation for the medical education of head waiter Robbie Gould. Perhaps the Houseman family is favored because oldest daughter Lisa has contributed so much time, energy and charm to the talent show.

The location of Baby's chair would not commonly be called "a corner". Rather, she is sitting in a cozy nook, which is framed by beautiful marble. If she wants to lean back as she watches the show, her nook will make her feel comfortable and cozy.

Baby is stilling in the ballroom's very best location, which honors her family and gives her a great view from a cozy nook that is furnished with a small table decorated with a tablecloth and candle.

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Nevertheless, Johnny approaches this favored location and denounces it as inadequate for Baby. Johnny insinuates that Baby has been placed there despite her preference to sit somewhere else. He implies that she is demeaned and humiliated by sitting in this "corner".

Johnny declares, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner".

Jake and Marjorie must be dismayed by Johnny's rudeness, arrogance and stupidity.

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Johnny said that because Baby has been whining to him that she feels cornered and isolated by her father.

She has felt cornered in the sense that she has feared she was being watched by her father or by someone spying for her father. She has felt that she constantly has had to hide herself whenever she might be seen with Johnny.

Baby has feared that her hiding places have been gradually discovered and that she has had to retreat to a final corner. She is "cornered".

Furthermore, Baby feels that she has been isolated by her father. He has been giving her the silent treatment and his cold shoulder. This treatment has made her feel like she is no longer a full member of the family. In that sense, Baby feels that she has been "put into a corner".

For sure, Johnny and Baby have had many conversations along the following lines.

Johnny Castle
You know, Baby, you are lucky in your life. You have intelligent, successful parents, and your family is financially comfortable. Your parents are sending you to an expensive college.

Baby Houseman
My life is miserable. I envy the freedom that you have, Johnny. My parents have brainwashed me to follow in their footsteps. I really want to take a year or two off before I begin college.

Johnny Castle
No, Baby, you don't know how tough it is struggle financially. Go to college and get into a professional career.

Baby Houseman
I feel like they are putting me into a corner, into a cage, where I will not have room to spread my wings and fly.

Johnny Castle
Baby, don't be foolish. Mount Holyoke College sounds like a great educational opportunity.

Baby Houseman
Johnny, I feel like this is a bad place for us to be talking with each other. We need to find a better hiding place. I feel paranoid that my Dad is spying on me. I just feel so cornered.

In the context of many such conversations, we can understand that Johnny eventually has adopted Baby's paranoid vocabulary of being "cornered" and of being "put into a corner".

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During the past days, Baby has turned from being a reasonable, kind and idealistic young woman into being a mad, egocentric and cynical teenage shrew. By giving Johnny orgasms too frequently and continually she addled his brain so that he agreed with her hysterical rantings and complied with her imperious demands.

Now, like a pet parrot trained by Baby, Johnny chirps the word "corner" that he has heard her repeat incessantly in her tantrums during the recent days. Johnny knows instinctively that his repeating Baby's pet word "corner" makes her happy -- makes her smile and laugh.