Oleanna: A Play (3 page)

JOHN
: No.

CAROL
: Is it bad that I asked you that?

JOHN
: No.

CAROL
: Did I upset you?

JOHN
: No. And I apologize. Of
course
you want to know about your grade. And, of course, you can’t concentrate on anyth … (
The telephone starts to ring.
) Wait a moment.

CAROL
: I should go.

JOHN
: I’ll make you a deal.

CAROL
: No, you have to …

JOHN
: Let it ring. I’ll make you a deal. You stay here. We’ll start the whole course over. I’m going to say it was not you, it was I who was not paying attention. We’ll start the whole course over. Your grade is an “A.” Your final grade is an “A.” (
The phone stops ringing.
)

CAROL
: But the class is only half over …

JOHN
(
simultaneously with
“over”): Your grade for the whole term is an “A.” If you will come back and meet with me. A few more times. Your grade’s an “A.” Forget about the paper. You didn’t like it, you didn’t like writing it. It’s not important.
What’s important is that I awake your interest, if I can, and that I answer your questions. Let’s start over. (
Pause
)

CAROL
: Over. With what?

JOHN
: Say this is the beginning.

CAROL
: The beginning.

JOHN
: Yes.

CAROL
: Of what?

JOHN
: Of the class.

CAROL
: But we can’t start over.

JOHN
: I say we can. (
Pause
) I say we can.

CAROL
: But I don’t believe it.

JOHN
: Yes, I know that. But it’s true. What is The Class but you and me? (
Pause
)

CAROL
: There are rules.

JOHN
: Well. We’ll break them.

CAROL
: How can we?

JOHN
: We won’t tell anybody.

CAROL
: Is that all right?

JOHN
: I say that it’s fine.

CAROL
: Why would you do this for me?

JOHN
: I like you. Is that so difficult for you to …

CAROL
: Um …

JOHN
: There’s no one here but you and me. (
Pause
)

CAROL
: All right. I did not understand. When you referred …

JOHN
: All right, yes?

CAROL
: When you referred to hazing.

JOHN
: Hazing.

CAROL
: You wrote, in your book. About the comparative … the comparative … (
She checks her notes.
)

JOHN
: Are you checking your notes …?

CAROL
: Yes.

JOHN
: Tell me in your own …

CAROL
: I want to make sure that I have it right.

JOHN
: No. Of course. You want to be exact.

CAROL
: I want to know everything that went on.

JOHN
: … that’s good.

CAROL
: … so I …

JOHN
: That’s very good. But I was suggesting, many times, that that which we wish to retain is retained oftentimes, I think,
better
with less expenditure of effort.

CAROL
: (
Of notes
) Here it is: you wrote of
hazing
.

JOHN
: … that’s correct. Now: I said “hazing.” It means ritualized annoyance. We shove this book at you, we say read it. Now, you say you’ve read it? I think that you’re
lying
. I’ll
grill
you, and when I find you’ve lied, you’ll be disgraced, and your life will be ruined. It’s a sick game. Why do we do it? Does it educate? In no sense. Well, then, what is higher education? It is something-other-than-useful.

CAROL
: What is “something-other-than-useful?”

JOHN
: It has become a ritual, it has become an article of faith. That all must be subjected to, or to put it differently, that all are entitled to Higher Education. And my point …

CAROL
: You disagree with that?

JOHN
: Well, let’s address that. What do you think?

CAROL
: I don’t know.

JOHN
: What do you think, though? (
Pause
)

CAROL
: I don’t know.

JOHN
: I spoke of it in class. Do you remember my example?

CAROL
: Justice.

JOHN
: Yes. Can you repeat it to me? (
She looks down at her notebook.
) Without your notes? I ask you as a favor to me, so that I can see if my idea was interesting.

CAROL
: You said “justice” …

JOHN
: Yes?

CAROL
: … that all are entitled … (
Pause
) I … I … I …

JOHN
: Yes. To a speedy trial. To a fair trial. But they needn’t be given a trial
at all
unless they stand accused. Eh? Justice is their right, should they choose to avail themselves of it, they should have a fair trial. It does not follow, of necessity, a person’s life is incomplete without a trial in it. Do you see?
My point is a confusion between equity and
utility
arose. So we confound the
usefulness
of higher education with our, granted, right to equal access to the same. We, in effect, create a
prejudice
toward it, completely independent of …

CAROL
: … that it is prejudice that we should go to school?

JOHN
: Exactly. (
Pause
)

CAROL
: How can you say that? How …

JOHN
: Good. Good.
Good
. That’s right! Speak up! What is a prejudice? An unreasoned belief. We are all subject to it. None of us is not. When it is threatened, or opposed, we feel anger, and feel, do we not? As you do now. Do you not? Good.

CAROL
: … but how can you …

JOHN
: … let us examine. Good.

CAROL
: H
OW …

JOHN
: Good. Good. When …

CAROL
: I’M SPEAKING … (
Pause
)

JOHN
: I’m sorry.

CAROL
: How can you …

JOHN
: … I beg your pardon.

CAROL
: That’s all right.

JOHN
: I beg your pardon.

CAROL
: That’s all right.

JOHN
: I’m sorry I interrupted you.

CAROL
: That’s all right.

JOHN
: You were saying?

CAROL
: I was saying … I was saying … (
She checks her notes.
) How can you say in a class. Say in a college class, that college education is prejudice?

JOHN
: I said that our predilection for it …

CAROL
: Predilection …

JOHN
: … you know what that means.

CAROL
: Does it mean “liking”?

JOHN
: Yes.

CAROL
: But how can you say that? That College …

JOHN
: … that’s my
job
, don’t you know.

CAROL
: What is?

JOHN
: To provoke you.

CAROL
: No.

JOHN
: Oh. Yes, though.

CAROL
: To provoke me?

JOHN
: That’s right.

CAROL
: To make me mad?

JOHN
: That’s right. To force you …

CAROL
: … to make me mad is your job?

JOHN
: To force you to … listen: (
Pause
) Ah. (
Pause
) When I was young somebody told me, are you ready, the rich copulate less often than the poor. But when they do, they take more of their clothes off. Years. Years, mind you, I would compare experiences of my own to this dictum, saying, aha, this fits the norm, or ah, this is a variation from it. What did it mean? Nothing. It was some jerk thing, some school kid told me that took up room inside my head. (
Pause
)
Somebody told
you
, and you hold it as an article of faith, that higher education is an unassailable
good. This notion is so dear to you that when I question it you become angry. Good. Good, I say. Are not those the very things which we should question? I say college education, since the war, has become so a matter of course, and such a fashionable necessity, for those either of or aspiring
to
to the new vast middle class, that we
espouse
it, as a matter of right, and have ceased to ask, “What is it good for?” (
Pause
)
What might be some reasons for pursuit of higher education?
One:
A love of learning.
Two:
The wish for mastery of a skill.
Three:
For economic betterment.
(
Stops. Makes a note.
)

CAROL
: I’m keeping you.

JOHN
: One moment. I have to make a note …

CAROL
: It’s something that I said?

JOHN
: No, we’re buying a house.

CAROL
: You’re buying the new house.

JOHN
: To go with the tenure. That’s right. Nice
house
, close to the
private school … 
(
He continues making his note.
) … We were talking of economic
betterment
(
CAROL
writes in her notebook.
) … I was thinking of the School Tax. (
He continues
writing.
) (
To himself:
)
 … where is it written
that I have to send my child to public school.… Is it a law that I have to improve the City Schools at the expense of my own interest? And, is this not simply
The White Man’s Burden?
Good. And (
Looks up to
CAROL
) … does this interest you?

CAROL
: No. I’m taking notes …

JOHN
: You don’t have to take notes, you know, you can just listen.

CAROL
: I want to make sure I remember it. (
Pause
)

JOHN
: I’m not lecturing you, I’m just trying to tell you some things I think.

CAROL
: What do you think?

JOHN
: Should all kids go to college?
Why …

CAROL
: (
Pause
) To learn.

JOHN
: But if he does not learn.

CAROL
: If the child does not learn?

JOHN
: Then why is he in college? Because he was told it was his “right”?

CAROL
: Some might find college instructive.

JOHN
: I would hope so.

CAROL
: But how do they feel? Being told they are wasting their time?

JOHN
: I don’t think I’m telling them that.

CAROL
: You said that education was “prolonged and systematic hazing.”

JOHN
: Yes. It can be so.

CAROL
: … if education is so
bad
, why do you do it?

JOHN
: I do it because I love it. (
Pause
) Let’s.… I suggest you look at the demographics, wage-earning capacity, college- and non-college-educated men and women, 1855 to 1980, and let’s see if we can wring some worth from the statistics. Eh? And …

CAROL
: No.

JOHN
: What?

CAROL
: I can’t understand them.

JOHN
: … you …?

CAROL
: … the “charts.” The
Concepts
, the …

JOHN
: “Charts” are simply …

CAROL
: When I leave here …

JOHN
: Charts, do you see …

CAROL
: No, I can’t …

JOHN
: You can, though.

CAROL
: NO, NO—I DON’T UNDERSTAND. DO YOU SEE??? I DON’T
UNDERSTAND …

JOHN
: What?

CAROL
:
Any
of it.
Any
of it. I’m
smiling
in class, I’m
smiling
, the whole time. What are you
talking
about? What is everyone
talking
about? I don’t
understand
. I don’t know what it
means
. I don’t know what it means to
be
here … you tell me I’m intelligent, and then you tell me I should not be
here
, what do you
want
with me? What does it
mean?
Who should I
listen
to … I …
   (
He goes over to her and puts his arm around her shoulder.
)
   NO! (
She walks away from him.
)

JOHN
: Sshhhh.

CAROL
: No, I don’t under …

JOHN
: Sshhhhh.

CAROL
: I don’t know what you’re
saying …

JOHN
: Sshhhhh. It’s all right.

CAROL
: … I have no …

JOHN
: Sshhhhh. Sshhhhh. Let it go a moment. (
Pause
) Sshhhhh … let it go. (
Pause
) Just let it go. (
Pause
) Just let it go. It’s all right. (
Pause
) Sshhhhh. (
Pause
) I understand … (
Pause
) What do you feel?

CAROL
: I feel bad.

JOHN
: I know. It’s all right.

CAROL
: I … (
Pause
)