Les Blancs (34 page)
Authors: Lorraine Hansberry
(
Dryly
)
Oh, all that I have undoubtedly missed!
(
Fixing the nearest boy with an exaggerated glare
)
Don’t think that’s funny, eh? What dry parents you must have! The lot of you. Speaking of your parents, where the devil are they? To tell you the truth, I was rather hoping that they might give me a lift. Ah, there we are.
(
He gives a good hard rub at this point, and a small lick of flame rises. The largest of the boys jumps to his feet and shouts
)
BOY
VAROOM!
(
And simultaneously the
CHILDREN
hit the dirt, face down, and try to bury their heads under their arms. The old man looks up from the fire
)
HERMIT
“Bang, bang!” I gotcha! Rat-tat-tat-tat!
(
He wields a “submachine gun.” One of the littler ones raises his head
)
You there, step here, since you are the least dead of the cowboys. I need a bellows and you will do nicely.
(
The child does not move
)
Now listen—come here.
Kommen sie hier! Venga!
… Well, I don’t know Yiddish.
(
With total exasperation, he goes back to the fire, fixes a string of wild fowl he has caught on a skewer across the flames and then sits back comfortably to wait
.
The little bit of meat sends up its bouquet; the child sniffs and goes closer. The others lift their heads slowly. It is an unfamiliar smell. Then, like beasts of prey, they stealthily shift to stalking positions and start to close in on the old man—who mugs back at them, draws his “six-shooters” and stares them down as in a game
)
Once upon a time there were seven little ugly, unwashed, uncombed and unmannered little children—
(
The
CHILDREN
throw themselves on his birds and tear them to pieces
and devour them raw, precisely as they did his lunch the day before. The old man rises, horrified, his eyes wide, looking from child to child
)
Why … you’re not playing … you
are
wild!
(
He regards them for a long time and then reaches out abruptly and pulls one of them to him
)
Are you lost children? What has happened to you?
(
He inspects the child’s elbows and kneecaps, which are hard calluses
)
Dear God! Calluses. You really don’t understand a word I am saying, do you?
(
Experimentally, but swiftly, expecting nothing
)
“Mother.”
“Mutter.” “Madre.” “Mater.”
“Mama.”
“Bambino” …
(
He is looking closely at the child and smoothing the hair back from the face so that he can see the eyes for any sign of recognition. The others look on guardedly. The youngster is motionless in his hands
)
No, words don’t mean a thing to you, do they? Dear, dear God … What have I found?
(
With desperate hope that he is wrong
)
Here—
(
He pulls out a pocket knife
)
—lad, what’s this?
(
The boy looks but does not touch. The old man opens and flips it into the earth; then retrieves it and lays it flat on his palm. The boy clutches for it
)
No, not
blade
first, lad!
(
Closing and pocketing it, he sits back on his heels, stunned, looking around at them
)
You eat raw meat, don’t know fire and are unfamiliar with the simplest implement of civilization. And you are prelingual.
(
He stands up slowly; as if to consult the universe about his impending sense of what has happened
)
What have they done …?
(
Slowly turning about; his voice rising in its own eccentric hysteria, crossing down center to the audience
)
What have you finally done!
(
In a rage, screaming
)
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!
Blackout
2
Many weeks later. Several rather serviceable lean-tos have been fashioned, and at far right a tiny garden is crudely fenced off. The
CHILDREN
,
who have been combed the least bit, so that it is hardly discernible, sit cross-legged in a semicircle; the Master, in the stance of his old profession, stands in front of them
.
HERMIT
Before we go any further at all, I must distribute names. I can do that, you see, because in this present situation I am God! and you must have names. Ah, you are wondering “Why—?” Well, it is because it will keep you from having to remember who you
really
are as you get older. Let’s see, quickly now, you are hereby: John, Thomas, Clarence, Robert, Horace, William. You may be Charlie, and you are henceforth Alexander.
(
To
ALEXANDER
)
But may I caution you at the outset to avoid all temptations toward any adjective to follow it.
(
Indicating the little girl
)
And you—you shall be Lily.
(
Gruffly
)
Now, down the list.
(
He holds up items or gestures actions. First he picks up a piece of meat
)
CHILDREN
Food.
(
The
HERMIT
holds up the knife
)
CHILDREN
Knife.
(
The
HERMIT
holds up a crude earthenware pot
)
CHILDREN
Pot.
(
The
HERMIT
gestures with his cheek on his hands, eyes closed
)
CHILDREN
Sleep.
(
The
HERMIT
gestures
)
CHILDREN
Drink.
(
The
HERMIT
gestures
)
CHILDREN
Lift.
(
The
HERMIT
gestures
)
CHILDREN
Eat.
(
He has not had
such
a good time for twenty-odd years—though of course, if asked, he’d deny it
.
He speaks fluently to them regardless of their only understanding a handful of words. When he wishes them to do or understand something explicitly, he speaks slowly and with abundant gesture
)
HERMIT
Very good. So much for today’s academic lessons. Time now for the vocational section. And all I can say is that primitive though my knowledge of technical skills may be—you had better be bloody grateful that I have at least some! In my world, certain men prided themselves on
not
knowing the things I am attempting to teach you! So, I shall do the best I can, do you hear me?
(
Under his breath
)
And when you learn to understand what the deuce I am talking about most of the time, you will also understand that you have just had a profound apology for ignorance, disguised as a boast. I was indeed a true member of the tribe!
(
Loudly
)
Now let me see … “Ceramics.”
(
To himself
)
If only we had a manual. Does one bake the clay before or after it’s dry? There is a point at which the clay must be put into—a kiln? … “Kiln”!?
(
He clears his throat and looks up
)
Yes, well, in any event—remember yesterday we gathered clay at the riverbank?
(
Holding up a handful of clay
)
Repeat it: “Clay.”
CHILDREN
CLAY!
HERMIT
Very good. Clay. And I did this to it—
(
Holds up the clay pot
)
CHILDREN
CLAY!
(
He points again to the pot for a further answer
)
POT!
HERMIT
… And we set it in the sun. “Sun.”
(
He points overhead
)
CHILDREN
SUN!
HERMIT
And now, see, it is hard. And now it is possible for one to carry not only one object—but several. Now this process is called …
(
He makes as if he is fashioning the pot again
)
“Work.” Say it.
CHILDREN
WORK!
HERMIT
And with “clay” and “work,” you can make all you need of these. So that you can “use” it. “Use” it … “use” …
(
The class is puzzled. He demonstrates by putting objects into the pot and taking them out
)
Well, this, I will admit, is something of an abstract concept … but it is a vital one and you will have to master it quickly. “Use” … “use” …
(
The
CHILDREN
are silent; it is too abstract. And he goes through it again. Then, with great excitement as
CHARLIE
raises his hand
)
You
got
it, Charlie? Good boy! Come and show me what to “use” something means.
(
The youngster gets up, picks up the pot and puts things in it
)
Good … good …
(
CHARLIE
carries them back to where he sat and takes them out and looks at the teacher for his approval
)
Capital!
(
Pleased
,
CHARLIE
puts them back in the pot and hands it back to the teacher
)
Very good, Charlie!
(
To the class
)
Charlie has “used” the pot.
(
He takes out his knife and whittles a twig
)
I am “using” the knife.
(
With a sense of urgency
)
It is such a vital verb, you
must
master it.
(
A beat
)
Well, on with the weaving.
(
He sits down, crosses his legs contentedly and picks up, as do the
CHILDREN
,
the beginnings of the baskets they are making
)
Cross one over, bring the other through, then—
Dimout
3
As the lights come up this time: stone implements, baskets and hoes as well as drying meats are in evidence. The Master and the
CHILDREN
come on far right; they are rather more frolicsome than we would have supposed they could be. And, for the first time
,
LILY
is the only one with long hair. The boys have been barbered and are dressed in foliage or animal skins now
.
HERMIT
(
Pausing at the garden
)
By heaven, those are most attractive radishes, Thomas. Very good! Come along now, time for class.
(
The
CHILDREN
moan
)
How quickly you learn! Come along, or you’ll get a caning.
(
They obey and take the positions of the prior scene
)
Well, now, you’ve made such—
(
He considers them doubtfully
)—
—admirable progress that I think you are ready to graduate to an area of knowledge which, sadly enough, used to be known as “the humanities.” And, in that connection, Charlie and I have prepared a surprise for you. A “surprise” is something that you do not know is coming and, in life, most “surprises” are quite unpleasant—but every now and then, there are those which are pleasant indeed, and they generally have to do with another abstraction which you do not know how to call by name but which you have already experienced—
(
Touching one of them
)
—by your nose, your eyes, and way, deep inside you. It is called: “beauty.” Say it.
CHILDREN
(
Shouting, out of habit
)
BEAUTY!
HERMIT
My word, you needn’t shout it! “Beauty” is just as well acknowledged softly as loudly. Say it like this so the word itself is beautiful—
(
Sweetly, lifting his head back and gesturing
)
“Beau-ty.”
CHILDREN
(
In dead-earnest mimicry
)
Beau-ty.
HERMIT
Again.
CHILDREN
Beau-ty
.
HERMIT
Lovely. You see, your very voices have this abstraction in them. Now—
(
He picks up the pot
)
—here is our dear and useful friend the pot again.
CHILDREN
POT.
HERMIT
Which, as we have learned, “works” for us, when we have worked to make it. Now, we have also learned that we can “use” it to carry all sorts of things: the berries we have picked; the water we wish to carry somewhere … but also—
(
He lifts up a little bouquet of wildflowers
)
—we may use it simply to hold that which we “enjoy” because—
(
He puts the flowers into the pot
)
—they have “beauty.” Like these flowers, which are almost as beautiful as our little Lily, which is why we have named her after them.
(
LILY
promptly preens herself before the boys
. W
ILLIAM
raises his hand
)
William?
W
ILLIAM
(
Loudly
)
USE?
HERMIT