A Long Day’s Journey Into Night
In Eugene O’Neill’s A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, a typical day in the life of the Tyrone family is revealed, and proves itself to be quite repetitious. Mary, the mother, shows to have more than one personality or attitude that slips out into the open several times in one day. She can be care free and loving, argumentative and accusing, as well as nervous and fearful.
Tyrone: It was Doctor Hardy. He wants you to be sure and see him at four.
Edmund: dully. What did he say? Not that i give a damn now.
Mary: Bursts out excitedly. I wouldn’t believe him if he swore on a stack of Bibles. You mustn’t pay attention to a word he says, Edmund.
Tyrone: Sharply. Mary!
Mary: More excitedly. Oh, we all realize why you like him, James! Because he’s cheap! But please don’t try to tell me! I know all about Doctor Hardy. Heaven knows i ought to after all these years. He’s an ignorant fool! There should be a law to keep men like him from practicing. He hasn’t the slightest idea- When you’re in agony and half insane, he sits and holds your hand and delivers sermons on will power! Her face is drawn in an expression of intense suffering by the memory. For the moment, she loses all caution. With bitter hatred. He deliberately humiliates you! He makes you beg and plead! He treats you like a criminal! He understands nothing! And yet it was exactly the same type of cheap quack who first gave you the medicine- and you never knew what it was until too late! Passionately. I hate doctors! They’ll do anything- anything to keep you coming to them. They’ll sell their souls! What’s worse, they’ll sell yours, and you never know it till one day you find yourself in hell!
Edmund: Mama! For God’s sake, stop talking.
Tyrone: Shakenly. Yes, Mary, it’s no time-
Mary: Suddenly is overcome with guilty confusion- stammers. I- forgive me, dear. You’re right. It’s useless to be angry now. There is again a pause of dead silence. When she speaks again, her face has cleared and is calm, and the quality of uncanny detachment is in her voice and manner. I’m going upstairs for a moment, if you’ll excuse me. I have to fix my hair. She adds smilingly. That is if I can find my glasses. I’ll be right down.
Tyrone: As she starts through the doorway- pleading and rebuking. Mary!
Mary: Turns to stare at him calmly. Yes, dear? What is it?
Tyrone: Helplessly. Nothing.
Mary: With a strange derisive smile. You’re welcome to come up and watch me if you’re so suspicious.
Her husband, Mr. Tyrone, clearly doesn’t find it easy to deal with his wife and keep her away from her bedroom upstairs, where it becomes known that she does not fix her hair but in fact shoots up on morphine. He is not laid back or easy going at all, and is in fact up tight and too fond of alcohol for anyone’s own good. Jamie, the eldest son, does not seem to be loved or respected by either of his parents, having been blamed for killing his baby brother by the spread of his chicken pox. They believe all he wants from them is money to spend on alcohol, which isn’t a total false accusation but a negative one at that. A lazy man and an alcoholic, Jamie doesn’t appear to bring anything positive to the table other than his ability to get along with and love Edmund.
Jamie:… Well, if we’re going to cut the front hedge today, we’d better go to work. Mary comes in from the back parlor. She gives a quick, suspicious glance from one to the other, her manner nervously self-conscious.
Tyrone: Turns from the window- with an actor’s heartiness. Yes, it’s too fine a morning to waste indoors arguing. Take a look out the window, Mary. There’s no fog in the harbor. I’m sure the spell of it we’ve had is over now.
Mary: Going to him. I hope so, dear. To Jamie, forcing a smile. Did i actually hear you suggesting work on the front hedge, Jamie? Wonders will never cease! You must want pocket money badly.
Edmund, the youngest son and different from his family members, is an understanding young man who puts forth a sincere effort to love and support his twisted family. Unfortunately he has come down with a nasty cough and his father and Jamie believe it to be tuberculosis, keeping that assumption from Mary for fear of a mental breakdown or worse on her part.
The first scene starts off as the family has just finished breakfast at their summer house, similar to the start of following scenes which mainly revolve around meal time. The men work outdoors in the yard while Mary stays inside and lounges around, occasionally strolling upstairs for a “nap.” Edmund’s cough has gotten progressively bad and the family insists he is seen by Doctor Hardy, whom Mary claims is not talented or professional enough to treat her son. This boils down to the age old argument that Mr. Tyrone is stingy and refuses to pay more than the absolute minimum for anything, including health care, hence why Mary is addicted to morphine. She claims Tyrone refused to hire a suitable doctor to help relieve her child birth pain and instead was given drugs.
Throughout the day nothing too interesting happens. The men drink excessive amounts of alcohol at every meal and inbetween, Mary takes several trips upstairs to relieve her addiction, Edmunds cough gets even worse, Jamie goes out to party and slacks around the house, and of course the family as a whole engages in many different arguments surrounding events that have occurred in the past. For some reason the Tyrones have a hard time letting go of the past and instead dwell on it in their everyday lives. They complain and argue and deteriorate their relationship each day while sliding farther down into their own personal issues, mainly alcoholism and drug addiction. With such stubborn personalities it is clear that their family will probably never make any progress in putting the past to rest and moving forward with their lives.
O’Neill ends the story after a scene at the dinner table. It is late at night, and all three men are nearly unconscious with the amount of alcohol they have consumed. Playing cards and talking away, Mary comes downstairs in a dreamy sort of state of mind, her words making sense but so out of the blue they have come. She recalls on the past, nothing out of the ordinary, about how she had spoken with Mother Elizabeth on wanting to be a nun when she was younger. Mother Elizabeth wanted her to come back and tell her when she was absolutely sure she was ready and prepared to be a nun, but then something stood in the way of her dream. She fell in love with James Tyrone and was unable to fulfill her wishes from then on. One more burden and story of regret she tells to the family as O’Neill closes the story. An open ending with no hope for improvement whatsoever.
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The Glass Menagerie
In Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, the Wingfield family, consisting of Amanda, Tom, and Laura, lives together in a claustrophobic apartment. Amanda, the mother of Tom and Laura, has suffered through the abandonment of her husband and consistently struggles in her relationship with her kids. Tom has taken the paternal role in the household, holding down a steady job to pay the bills and support his mother and sister. Laura, on the other hand, has a hard time committing to anything because of her fear of being rejected or having flaws that would prevent her to do certain things, stemming from her slight physical disability. Being in such small quarters with each other as well makes things difficult for this family on a day to day basis.
Amanda’s character in the play is extremely dependent on her son Tom for the steady income to keep their home. This puts a heavy strain on Tom with so much responsibility, having to pick up the slack that his father left them to deal with. Laura, with her disability, tends to stay home a lot of the time leaving her with Amanda while Tom is at work. Even when trying to keep a job, Laura would pretend to be there during the day to keep Amanda satisfied, when really she stayed at the park until her “work day” was over. Laura showed us that she much preferred staying home with her collection of glass animals than living in the real world outside of their apartment. Amanda, such a pushy and stubborn woman, thought she had it all under control.
Amanda’s pushy nature especially shines through in her relationship with Laura in constantly nagging about seeking “gentlemen callers.” Often recalling her days as a young girl with several gentlemen callers, Amanda can’t seem to understand why the task seems so difficult for her beautiful daughter.
Amanda: … My callers were gentlemen- all! Among my callers were some of the most prominent young planters of the Mississippi Delta- planters and sons of planters! There was a young Champ Laughlin who later became vice president of the Delta Planters Bank. Hadley Stevenson who was drowned in Moon Lake and left his widow one hundred and fifty thousand in Government bonds. There were the Cutrere brothers, Wesley and Bates. Bates was one of my bright particular beaux! He got in a quarrel with that wild Wainwright boy. They shot it out on the floor of Moon Lake Casino. Bates was shot through the stomach. Died in the ambulance on his way to Memphis. His widow was also well provided-for, came into eight or ten thousand acres, that’s all. She married him on the rebound- never loved her- carried my picture on him the night he died! And there was that boy that every girl in the Delta had set her cap for! That beautiful, brilliant young Fitzhugh boy from Greene County!
Tom: What did he leave his widow?
Amanda: He never married! Gracious, you talk as though all of my old admirers had turned up their toes to the daisies!
Tom: Isn’t this the first you’ve mentioned that still survives?
Amanda: That Fitzhugh boy went North and made a fortune- came to be known as the Wolf of Wall Street! He had the Midas touch, whatever he touched turned to gold! And I could have been Mrs. Duncan J. Fitzhugh, mind you! But- I picked your father!
Laura: Mother, let me clear the table.
Amanda: No, dear, you go in front and study your type writer chart. Or practice your shorthand a little. Stay fresh and pretty!- It’s almost time for our gentlemen callers to start arriving. How many do you suppose we’re going to entertain this afternoon?
Laura: I don’t believe we’re going to receive any, Mother.
Amanda: What? No one- not one? You must be joking! Not one gentlemen caller? It can’t be true! There must be a flood, there must have been a tornado!
Laura: It isn’t a flood, it’s not a tornado, Mother. I’m just not popular like you were in Blue Mountain… Mother’s afraid I’m going to be an old maid.
Laura’s shy and passive personality, though, tends to keep things inside, enabling Amanda to walk all over her. This demand for Laura to find a man seems unpractical from the readers’ point of view, seeing that Laura clearly is not comfortable enough with herself to let another person in on her life. Staying home and secluding herself from society doesn’t make the process of finding a gentlemen caller any easier, either, which is why Amanda eventually puts that burden on Tom as well. Assuming he knew suitable single men from the warehouse, why couldn’t he bring a man home to meet Laura?
Under all of this stress, Tom deals with it in his own ways. For example, after a long day of work Tom would typically come home for a little while. Soon after returning home, he would leave and “go to the movies” until usually two o’clock in the morning. Before long we notice that Tom’s often trips to the movies were actually escapades to the local bars to drink himself silly, forgetting all that was waiting for him at home. Eventually Tom breaks down after a friend he brought home for Laura from work turned out to be engaged already. He angrily tells his selfish mother how he really feels, what he really does when he says he’s going to the movies, and finally how he feels about her.
Amanda: The gentleman caller has made an early departure. What a wonderful joke you played on us!
Tom: How do you mean?
Amanda: You didn’t mention that he was engaged to be married.
Tom: Jim? Engaged?
Amanda: That’s what he just informed us.
Tom: I’ll be jiggered! I didn’t know about that.
Amanda: That seems very peculiar.
Tom: What’s peculiar about it?
Amanda: Didn’t you call him your best friend down at the warehouse?
Tom: He is, but how did I know?
Amanda: It seems extremely peculiar that you wouldn’t know your best friend was going to be married!
Tom: The warehouse is where I work, not where I know things about people!
Amanda: You don’t know things anywhere! You live in a dream; you manufacture illusions! Where are you going?
Tom: I’m going to the movies.
Amanda: That’s right, now that you’ve had us make such fools of ourselves. The effort, the preparations, all the expense! The new floor lamp, the rug, the clothes for Laura! All for what? To entertain some other girls’ fiance! Go to the movies, go! Don’t think about us, a mother deserted, an unmarried sister who’s crippled and has no job! Don’t let anything interfere with your selfish pleasure! Just go, go, go- to the movies!
Tom: Alright, I will! The more you shout about my selfishness to me the quicker I’ll go, and I won’t go to the movies!
Amanda: Go, then! Go to the moon- you selfish dreamer!
Tom: I didn’t go to the moon, I went much further- for time is the longest distance between two places. Not long after that I was fired for writing a poem on the lid of a shoe-box. I left Saint Louis. I descended the steps of this fire escape for a last time and followed, from then on, in my father’s footsteps, attempting to find in motion what was lost in space. I traveled around a great deal. The cities swept about me like dead leaves, leaves that were brightly colored but torn away from the branches. I would have stopped, but I was pursued by something. It always came upon me unawares, taking me altogether by surprise. Perhaps it was a familiar bit of music. Perhaps it was only a piece of transparent glass. Perhaps I am walking along a street at night, in some strange city, before I have found companions. I pass the lighted window of a shop where perfume is sold. The window is filled with pieces of colored glass, tiny transparent bottles in delicate colors, like bits of a shattered rainbow. Then all at once my sister touches my shoulder. I turn around and look into her eyes. Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be! I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into the movies or a bar, I buy a drink, I speak to the nearest stranger- anything that can blow your candles out!
Another clear depiction in this play that goes along with the psychological attribute is the failure of the Wingfield family to accept reality. Laura’s life nearly completely exists in the safety of her own home, with her glass animals that symbolize her; delicate and complicated. Tom prefers to be in a drunken state of mind or lost in a movie rather than spend time with his family or accept the environment he is surrounded by. Amanda has the disability of accepting that what she wants and pushes for is something unpractical and unwanted by the members in her family. Tom is not going to be a successful businessman; it is not what he wants to do with his life. Laura is not a typical young girl, and does not enjoy to spend her life the way her mother did when she was young. Amanda’s upbringing is to blame for most of these unsensible expectations. Growing up being a social butterfly and a financial masterpiece is not what is in store for her family now, and she needs to get a firm grasp on reality, more than anyone else, before their family as a whole can make any progress.
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Desire Under the Elms
In Eugene O’Neill’s play Desire Under the Elms, Ephraim Cabot lives on a large New England farm with his three sons, Simeon and Peter from one wife, Eben from another. When Eben’s mother died previous to the beginning of the play, Cabot claimed the farm that had originally been hers. This created tension between Cabot and Eben, who claimed that Cabot worked his mother to her death and then took what was rightfully Eben’s.
EBEN–I’m Maw–every drop o’ blood!
PETER–She was good t’ Sim ‘n’ me. A good Step-maw’s scurse.
SIMEON–She was good t’ everyone.
EBEN–I be thankful t’ ye. I’m her–her heir.
PETER–She was good even t’ him.
EBEN–An’ fur thanks he killed her!
SIMEON–No one never kills nobody. It’s allus somethin’. That’s the murderer.
EBEN–Didn’t he slave Maw t’ death?
PETER–He’s slaved himself t’ death. He’s slaved Sim ‘n’ me ‘n’ yew t’ death–on’y none o’ us hain’t died–yit
Cabot abruptly takes off on a journey that turns out to last over two solid months, leaving the boys to work the farm day in and day out until his return. Meanwhile Simeon and Peter devise a plan to head out to California where there is gold to be had. Eben makes a deal with them; money in exchange for their signatures that allow his possession of the farm someday. Finally Cabot strolls back on to the farm in his horse drawn carriage with a new wife by his side, while Simeon and Peter say goodbye and leave in a flurry of excitement. Abbie, the new wife, is a good looking young woman. She steps on to the farm and expresses her happiness to have such land.
CABOT–Har we be t’ hum, Abbie.
ABBIE–Hum! It’s purty–purty! I can’t b’lieve it’s r’ally mine.
CABOT–Yewr’n? Mine! Our’n–mebbe! It was lonesome too long. I was growin’ old in the spring. A hum’s got t’ hev a woman.
ABBIE–A woman’s got t’ hev a hum!
Immediately upon arriving at the farm, Abbie starts to seduce Eben at any moment when Cabot is not around. A good looking, strong young man that Eben is makes the reason for Abbie marrying his father clear; money and land. This initially upsets Eben even more, his father and step mother trying to steal his farm, until he starts to fall for Abbie.
ABBIE– Be you–Eben? I’m Abbie– I mean, I’m yer new Maw.
EBEN– No, damn ye!
ABBIE–Yer Paw’s spoke a lot o’ yew. . . .
EBEN–Ha!
ABBIE–Ye mustn’t mind him. He’s an old man. I don’t want t’ pretend playin’ Maw t’ ye, Eben. Ye’re too big an’ too strong fur that. I want t’ be frens with ye. Mebbe with me fur a fren ye’d find ye’d like livin’ here better. I kin make it easy fur ye with him, mebbe. I calc’late I kin git him t’ do most anythin’ fur me.
The lust between Abbie and Eben results in a baby before long, except Cabot is led to believe that the baby boy is his son. Eventually Eben loses control of himself after an argument with Cabot and jumps into another quarrel with Abbie.
ABBIE–Eben. Air ye hurt?
EBEN– T’ hell–with ye.
ABBIE– It’s me, Eben–Abbie–don’t ye know me?
EBEN–Ay-eh–I know ye–now!
ABBIE– Eben–what’s happened t’ ye–why did ye look at me ’s if ye hated me?
EBEN–I do hate ye! Ye’re a whore–a damn trickin’ whore!
ABBIE–Eben! Ye don’t know what ye’re sayin’!
EBEN–Ye’re nothin’ but a stinkin’ passel o’ lies! Ye’ve been lyin’ t’ me every word ye spoke, day an’ night, since we fust–done it. Ye’ve kept sayin’ ye loved me. . . .
ABBIE–I do love ye!
EBEN–Ye’ve made a fool o’ me–a sick, dumb fool–a-purpose! Ye’ve been on’y playin’ yer sneakin’, stealin’ game all along–gittin’ me t’ lie with ye so’s ye’d hev a son he’d think was his’n, an’ makin’ him promise he’d give ye the farm and let me eat dust, if ye did git him a son!They must be a devil livin’ in ye! T’ain’t human t’ be as bad as that be!
ABBIE–He told yew . . . ?
EBEN–Hain’t it true? It hain’t no good in yew lyin’.
ABBIE–Eben, listen–ye must listen–it was long ago–afore we done nothin’–yew was scornin’ me–goin’ t’ see Min–when I was lovin’ ye–an’ I said it t’ him t’ git vengeance on ye!
EBEN–I wish ye was dead! I wish I was dead along with ye afore this come! But I’ll git my vengeance too! I’ll pray Maw t’ come back t’ help me–t’ put her cuss on yew an’ him!
ABBIE–Don’t ye, Eben! Don’t ye! I didn’t mean t’ do bad t’ ye! Fergive me, won’t ye?
EBEN–I’ll git squar’ with the old skunk–an’ yew! I’ll tell him the truth ’bout the son he’s so proud o’! Then I’ll leave ye here t’ pizen each other–with Maw comin’ out o’ her grave at nights–an’ I’ll go t’ the gold fields o’ Californi-a whar Sim an’ Peter be!
ABBIE–Ye won’t–leave me? Ye can’t!
EBEN–I’m a-goin’, I tell ye! I’ll git rich thar an’ come back an’ fight him fur the farm he stole–an’ I’ll kick ye both out in the road–t’ beg an’ sleep in the woods–an’ yer son along with ye–t’ starve an’ die!
ABBIE–He’s yewr son, too, Eben.
EBEN–I wish he never was born! I wish he’d die this minit! I wish I’d never sot eyes on him! It’s him–yew havin’ him–a-purpose t’ steal–that’s changed everythin’!
ABBIE–Did ye believe I loved ye–afore he come?
EBEN–Ay-eh–like a dumb ox!
ABBIE–An’ ye don’t believe no more?
EBEN–B’lieve a lyin’ thief! Ha!
As a result of this conversation, Abbie made the abrupt decision to suffocate her baby boy by putting a pillow over his head after kissing him goodnight. This would prove to Eben that she loved him, or so she thought.
ABBIE–I–I killed him, Eben.
EBEN–Ye killed him?
ABBIE– Ay-eh.
EBEN–An’ serves him right! But we got t’ do somethin’ quick t’ make it look s’if the old skunk’d killed himself when he was drunk. We kin prove by ‘em all how drunk he got.
ABBIE– No! No! Not him! But that’s what I ought t’ done, hain’t it? I oughter killed him instead! Why didn’t ye tell me?
EBEN–Instead? What d’ye mean?
ABBIE–Not him.
EBEN– Not–not that baby!
ABBIE–Ay-eh!
EBEN–Oh, God A’mighty! A’mighty God! Maw, whar was ye, why didn’t ye stop her?
ABBIE– She went back t’ her grave that night we fust done it, remember? I hain’t felt her about since.I left the piller over his little face. Then he killed himself. He stopped breathin’.
EBEN–He looked like me. He was mine, damn ye!
Eben’s reaction to the situation was not what Abbie had anticipated, and she became incredibly upset as he left to tell the sheriff that she had committed murder on their son. As the sheriff arrived at their house, Eben realized he had made a mistake in turning Abbie over to the authorities, and therefore decided it was his fault that the baby died as well so the both of them could be taken to jail together.
The psychological aspect of modernism beams through this play. From the very beginning Cabot is indirectly described as a man who plays mind games. Having been married atleast twice and apparently having driven his second wife into her grave, it is obvious how twisted the man actually is. Working his sons so hard everyday all while mentally abusing them contributes to the events to occur in the story. As nasty as Cabot is, though, Abbie is not much of an improvement. A psychotic woman herself, marries an old man for his possessions and seduces his son upon arrival to their farm. Between seduction, greed, and pure ignorance, this family is nothing special.
As the story continues, even more twisted events find their way in to Cabot’s life. Eben impregnating Abbie and keeping it a secret from Cabot is a recipe for disaster. Being so sneeky about the situation and making Cabot out to be a complete and utter fool, more than he does himself, is clearly the psychological “intelligence” Abbie possesses. When Eben mistakenly tells Abbie how the baby was a mistake and so on, she kills her own flesh and blood. What kind of mother could perform such an act of cruelty on their own kin? And such a quick decision, after an argument with the baby’s father who would never hurt one of his own? Absolute insanity. I see the story as a triangle of control; Cabot who controlled all, until Abbie comes along and tries to take the reins through her seduction of Eben. To her dismay, Eben unknowingly gets Abbie wrapped around his finger and Cabot is left in the cold thinking everything is in order the way he likes it to be.
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In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, Stella and Stanley Kowalski live happily together in a small home in New Orleans, Louisiana. Not having had contact with her family since she left their home, Stella is surprised to see her sister Blanche at her back doorstep one hot summer day. Having such a superior attitude clashes with Stanley’s dominant role in the Kowalski household, causing problems for everyone. To Stanley’s dismay, Blanche comes bearing news that their family has lost their estate called Belle Reve. With no wealth and no where else to go, New Orleans became her new home.
Blanche: I know, I know. But you are the one that abandoned Belle Reve, not I! I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it!
Stella: Stop this hysterical outburst and tell me what’s happened? What do you mean fought and bled? What kind of-
Blanche: I knew you would, Stella. I knew you would take this attitude about it!
Stella: About-what?-please!
Blanche: The loss- the loss. . .
Stella: Belle Reve? Lost, is it? No!
Blanche: Yes, Stella.
Blanche had gotten married at a young age and uncovered a dark secret of her lover’s; he was a homosexual. This resulted in a personal challenge for Blanche to do everything in her power to change him to a straight man. Spending years, struggling, married to this man Blanche tried to convince herself that she was making progress when reality showed the opposite. One day she, accidentally or not, found he and another man in bed together, stirring up feelings of anger and disappointment inside of her. Eventually Blanche let harsh words escape from her, which confronted the touchy subject for the first real time. Her husband was unfortunately unable to handle his homosexuality staring him in the face, and made the sudden decision to commit suicide. Consequently Blanche felt she had failed in life, was perceived as an ugly person, and completely undesirable to men in general.
After Blanche finished taking care of her ill family members and then losing their estate, she moved to a place called Laurel. No one knew who she was there, but it didn’t take long for her to be familiar with many townspeople. There she was able to let her sexuality get the best of her and enjoy the company of many men on a daily basis. Locally Blanche became known as a drunk, immoral sex object, and the news of her spread into surrounding towns.
Stella: What have you heard and who from?
Stanley: Our supply-man down at the plant has been going through Laurel for years and he knows all about her and everybody else in the town of Laurel knows all about her. She is as famous in laurel as if she was the President of the United States, only she is not respected by any party! …
She even took advantage of young boys, like her husband was, to see that they were straight and even try to change those who weren’t. This was an on-going life style for Blanche; trying to relive her past and settle her emotions by making a “difference.” This as well as the suicide of her husband ate away at her to the point where she became mentally unstable and extremely needy, especially upon arrival to Stella’s home in New Orleans. There she pretended to be as she used to, respectable and pure, until she met a good friend of Stanley’s named Mitch. The two became fond of each other before long, but after her “true life” in Laurel was revealed Mitch rethought his decision to get involved with Blanche. During an awkward visit to Blanche later on one night, Mitch was put under the burden of her past as she told the story and confirmed what he heard.
Mitch: Didn’t you stay at a hotel called The Flamingo?
Blanche: Flamingo? No! Tarantula was the name of it! I stayed at a hotel called The Tarantula Arms!
Mitch: Tarantula?
Blanche: Yes, a big spider! That’s where I brought my victims. Yes, I had many intimacies with strangers. After the death of Allan- intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with. . . I think it was panic, just panic, that drove me from one to another, hunting for some protection- here and there, in the most- unlikely places- even, at last, in a seventeen-year-old boy but- somebody wrote the superintendent about it- “This woman is morally unfit for her position!” True? Yes, I suppose- unfit somehow- anyways. . . So I came here. There was nowhere else I could go. I was played out. You know what played out is? My youth was suddenly gone up the water-spout, and- I met you. You said you needed somebody. Well, I needed somebody, too. I thanked God for you, because you seemed to be gentle- a cleft in the rock of the world that I could hide in! But I guess I was asking, hoping- too much!…
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This One’s a Killa’
In “The Killers” by Ernest Hemingway, Al and Max are two tough guys who stroll into a small diner around dinner time. In pursuit of the life of a regular dinner customer named Ole Anderson, the men waste no time to start playing mind games with the clerk, George, making sure everyone knows who is boss. They torment George, purposely trying to scare him and make him feel inferior in their presence. Such an example is how the men call him a ‘bright boy’ for even the slightest response to a mindless question.
“What do they do here nights?” Al asked.
“They eat the dinner,” his friend said. “They all come here and eat the big dinner.”
“That’s right,” George said.
“So you think that’s right?” Al asked George.
“Sure.”
“You’re a pretty bright boy, aren’t you?”
“Sure,” said George.
“Well, you’re not,” said the other little man. “Is he, Al?”
“He’s dumb,” said Al. He turned to Nick. “What’s your name?”
“Adams.”
“Another bright boy,” Al said. “Ain’t he a bright boy, Max?”
“The town’s full of bright boys,” Max said.
The men linger in the restaurant waiting for Ole, hour after hour. Consequently Ole never shows up for his routine dinner, an odd occurrence. It is not clearly stated in the text why the men wanted to kill Ole, but it is assumed that he was involved in something illegal. The killers eventually make their way out of the diner and out of sight, leaving George and the cook Sam in a fluster. What had just happened?
“They all gone?” he asked.
“Yeah,” said George. “They’re gone now.”
“I don’t like it,” said the cook. “I don’t like any of it at all”
“Listen,” George said to Nick. “You better go see Ole Anderson.”
—–
“I was up at Henry’s,” Nick said, “and two fellows came in and tied up me and the cook, and they said they were going to kill you.”
It sounded silly when he said it. Ole Anderson said nothing.
“They put us out in the kitchen,” Nick went on. “They were going to shoot you when you came in to supper.”
Ole Anderson looked at the wall and did not say anything.
“George thought I better come and tell you about it.”
“There isn’t anything I can do about it,” Ole Anderson said.
“I’ll tell you what they were like.”
“I don’t want to know what they were like,” Ole Anderson said. He looked at the wall. “Thanks for coming to tell me about it.”
“That’s all right.”
Nick looked at the big man lying on the bed.
“Don’t you want me to go and see the police?”
“No,” Ole Anderson said. “That wouldn’t do any good.”
“Isn’t there something I could do?”
“No. There ain’t anything to do.”
“Maybe it was just a bluff.”
“No. It ain’t just a bluff.”
This short story contains interesting psychological points; for example, George’s reaction to the men and how he handled the possibly dangerous situation. Staying calm and collected, George had the killers’ numbers right from the start. Their next move seemed to be relatively predictable and fortunately worked out in the favor of the hunted, for the time being.
“There ain’t anything to do. After a while I’ll make up my mind to go out.”
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In this excerpt from T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the psychological aspect throughout the poem is vividly expressed. The narrator explains:
And I have known the eyes already, known them all–
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
“The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase” translates into an interesting predicament where the author is viewed as one thing and is therefore stuck under that “stereotype” according to the individual. “Sprawling on a pin, When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall” shows his discomfort with what he is seen as and then doing all in his power to change it. These of course are not physical actions; this strife is only occurring in the author’s mind.
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The Low Down
Hello, my name is Nicole and I am in my junior year of high school. I love being with my friends and having funnnnnnn. Music ♥
Miss Baz’s honors english three class is making a modernist project.
I am exploring the psychological aspect of modernism. This is the content put into different works of literature, whether it is poetry or short stories, showing some mind set or feeling from the author. Sometimes it takes an extra effort to decipher this personal message because authors will often represent their thoughts/feelings symbolically so that it flows with their writing. The author seems to intend these psychological aspects to only be applicable to them, but the readers can often relate with the uncertainties and other fears represented.
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