All the men have their eyes fixed on her and she loves it, all but Don Jose, which makes Carmen want him even more than the other men. Carmen prances over to him and asks what he is doing, he tells her and she laughs throwing her flower at his chest and walks away as everyone is laughing. The factory bell rings yet another time and the girls disappear into the factory. All he soldiers revert to the guardhouse except for Don Jose who is thinking about his occurrence with Carmen. Just then Micaela shows up for a second time with a note form Don Jose's mother in which she tells him to ask Micaela to marry him, and he is all ready to do so until a brawl breaks out in the factory and off to duty he goes. Zuniga knows that it has to have something to do with Carmen since she is such a troublemaker, and he was right. Carmen got into a verbal argument with one of the other girls until Carmen lost her temper and threw the girl to the ground slashing each cheek open (Bleiler 41). Zuniga tries to question Carmen but all she does is spit out gypsy ballads at him (Bleiler 41). He is about to order Carmen to prison when she breaks away and assaults yet another women. Zuniga ties her hand behind her back and hands her over to Don Jose to take her to the guardhouse. On the way there Carmen convinces Don Jose not to take her to prison. Because of his attraction with her, he agrees and they come up with a plan for her escape. As he unites her hands she knocks him down and escapes making the plan look as authentic as possible.
Act II.
Nearly one month later Don Jose is being released from prison, he was ultimately sent there for facilitating Carmen's escape. He was demoted from corporal to private for his disobedient acts. Carmen is at the Lilla's Pastinas establishment, which is a mixture of a brothel, boozing ken, and tavern (Bleiler 42). Carmen joins the other girls in dancing for the men; Zuniga flirts with her, knowing that she has a grudge towards him because of what happened the month before.
