Monologue

Ken Monologue from Class of '29

From Class of '29 by Orrie Lashin

male · anguished · 1:27 min

(Flatly.) I want a job. (LAURA: Of course you do, darling!) (Fiercely.) That's all I want. A job. I lay awake nights, saying over and over, "I want a job, a job, a job..." (LAURA: Oh, I know!) I don't think about you when I lie awake at night. I don't think how nice it would be to have you there in my arms. All I think about is a job. If it were a choice between you and a job I'd take the job.--What's the use of kidding ourselves any longer? (She is silent. He goes on desperately.) I'm not the same fellow I was three years ago. People slam doors in my face. Do you understand? They look at me. They see my clothes, my eyes.... They're antagonized before they speak to me,--just as people are to a beggar. They say "no" before I ask for anything. No, no, no. They say it as if I were asking for charity instead of a job. "Nothing for you." "Sorry." "Nothing today."--It makes a beggar out of you! (TIPPY enters, carrying tea tray.)

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