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In the Dirty Dancing story, Baby Houseman helps Penny Johnson in five steps:
1) When Baby sees Penny crying in the kitchen, Baby fetches Johnny Castle and Billy Kostecki to help Penny.Each of Baby's steps to help Penny involved risks. In Part 1, I discussed the first two steps.
2) After Baby learns that Robbie Gould has made Penny pregnant and that Penny wants to get an abortion, Baby asks Robbie to help pay for the abortion.
3) Baby gets $250 from her father and gives it to Penny to pay for the abortion.
4) Baby learns to dance well enough to replace Penny in the performance at the Sheldrake Hotel on the day of the abortion.
5) Baby fetches her father to treat Penny after the abortion.
1) Baby's decision to fetch Johnny and Billy risked causing trouble with Max and Neil Kellerman.In Part 2, I discussed the third step.
2) Baby's decision to ask Robbie to pay risked causing trouble with her sister Lisa and her parents.
3) Baby's decision to ask her father for money and to give it to Penny risked the possibilities that her father would demand an explanation or that gossip about her monetary gift to Penny would spread among the employees.Now I will discuss Baby's fourth and fifth steps to help Penny.
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Baby learns to dance well enough to replace Penny in the performance at the Sheldrake Hotel on the day of the abortion.
Baby risked that her performance at the Sheldrake would turn out to be so bad that Penny and Johnny would suffer consequences. Johnny might be embarrassed and humiliated by the performance. Johnny and Penny might even be fired by the Sheldrake.
Furthermore, Johnny and Penny might become angry at Baby and might break off future interaction with her.
Baby herself might suffer a crisis of confidence and so might avoid many challenges during her future years.
Despite these risks, Baby did agree to take dance lessons from Johnny and then to replace Penny at the Sheldrake performances.
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One reason why Baby took this fourth step to help Penny was that she already had taken the third step. The efforts and risks of the third step -- getting the money from her father and giving it to Penny -- would have been wasted if, after all, Penny would miss her abortion opportunity because she had to dance at the Sheldrake. In other words, Baby's decision to take her fourth step was based to some extent on the sunk-cost fallacy.
If Baby had reasoned more objectively, then she might have considered that the risks of her trying to replace Penny at the Sheldrake were too consequential. Baby could have advised Johnny and Penny that they should not waste valuable time trying to train Baby -- but rather should ....
* ... keep trying to find a more experienced dancer to replace Penny.Various alternatives might have enabled Baby to get the money back from Penny quickly, so that Baby could give the money back to her father quickly. In other words, some of the third step's consequences might have been ameliorated. Her father's suspicions might have been relieved quickly, and any gossip about the money might have been curtailed.
* ... notify the Sheldrake as soon as possible to schedule another dancing couple
* ... search for other abortion possibilities on other days.
However, Baby hesitated only briefly -- "I can't even do the merengue!" -- and then agreed to take her fourth step -- to take Johnny's dancing lessons in order to replace Penny.
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Another reason why Baby took the fourth step was to prevent Penny from returning the money. Penny had hesitated to accept the money, and Johnny had told Penny not to accept it. If Penny decided to forego that particular abortion opportunity in order to fulfill her own performance obligation at the Sheldrake, then Penny might have returned the money to Baby. Perhaps Johnny might even have insisted that Penny return the money. Johnny and Penny might have figured that they now had some more time to get the money elsewhere.
By agreeing to replace Penny, Baby caused Penny to commit herself quickly to the existing abortion opportunity. Penny would tell Billy to go ahead and put Penny onto the abortionist's schedule. Perhaps Billy even would have given some or all of Baby's money immediately to the abortionist as an advance payment.
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By taking dance lessons in order to replace Penny, Baby continued and developed her relationship with Penny. Although Baby's main dance teacher would be Johnny, Penny too helped teach Baby.
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| Penny helping Johnny teach Baby to dance |
Baby wanted to spend more time and interact further with Penny. This would happen if Penny committed herself the abortion and if Baby took dance lessons in order to replace Penny.
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Baby's fourth step helped not only Penny, but also Johnny. Apparently, only he had signed the contract with the Sheldrake. He was the one person who was obligated by the contract to show up, with a female partner. If he showed up with a partner other than Penny, then he still fulfilled the contract.
By helping Johnny, Baby might make him feel some gratitude toward her and treat her more favorably. Until then, his attitude toward her had been suspicious, critical and hostile. From then on, he would have to give her a real chance to make a good impression on him.
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Of course, Baby took the fourth step also because she wanted to spend time dancing and talking with him. She felt attracted to him sexually. She knew that he could make her a much better dancer. She would have an exciting adventure with him. She could even fantasize that her adventure might include romantic elements.
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One other reason why Baby decided to replace Penny at the Sheldrake performance was that she would enjoy the secrecy of such an adventure -- unknown to her family and to her boyfriend Neil.
Baby had not wanted to go on this family vacation to this resort hotel. She expected to feel lonely, bored and embarrassed during the entire three weeks. Now, however, she was embarking on a secret adventure, and it might be great fun to sneak around, to tell lies and to continually deceive the very people who felt they knew her best.
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Baby fetches her father to treat Penny after the abortion.
This last step to help Penny was likely to reveal to Baby's father that she had lied to him that the money was not for an illegal purpose.
If Baby had not fetched her father, then the best alternative would have been to take Penny to a hospital. Johnny had a car, which he could have used for an immediate drive -- to the closest hospital, or to some clinic or doctor's office, or even back to the abortionist.
Penny was not hemorrhaging from the abortion. Rather, she was suffering primarily a fever. If she had been taken somewhere for medical treatment, she did not necessarily have to reveal that she was suffering from the aftereffects of an abortion. At least initially, she could have reported merely that she was suffering from a fever.
Baby's father treated Penny just with antibiotics, which caused her to recover quickly. It's likely that any other doctor would have treated Penny's fever symptoms similarly, without having to be informed about the abortion.
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Baby did not hesitate to run and fetch her father, even though she foresaw the consequences for her relationship with him. Baby did not hesitate, because she perceived the situation to be an emergency that involved herself too.
Also, Baby now considered Penny and Johnny to be her own close, real friends -- and right now she considered these two friendships to be much more important than her concerns about her father.
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In general, the primary reason why Baby helped Penny was that Baby wanted to befriend Penny. Baby wanted to learn more about Penny, about Penny's relationship with Johnny, and about Johnny himself. This was Baby's primary reason at each of the five steps that Baby took.
Baby's helping Penny succeeded wonderfully. Baby did become Penny's friend. More importantly, Baby became Johnny's friend and lover.
The movie teaches a great lesson about the benefits of helping other people.
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This post completes this three-part series.
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