Some notes on Arthur Miller and "The Last Yankee":
"What happens when an old moral identity survives—but no longer functions in the world that surrounds it?"
#arthurmiller #theLastYankee #books #plays #classics
AREN: Are you BaptIst! PATRICIA: Baptist? No, we're more Methodist. But the church I'd really love hasn't been invented yet. KAREN, charmed, slavishly interested: How would it be? PATRICIA, begins to describe it, breaks off: I can't describe it. A sign of lostness. I was raised Lutheran, of course. - But I often go to the Marble Baptist Church on Route gi? I've gotten to like that minister. —You hear what I'm saying, don't you? Karen looks at her nervously trying to remember. I must say it's kind of relaxing talking to you, Karen, knowing that you probably won't remember too much. But you'll come out of it all right, you're just a little scared, aren't you. —But who isn't? Slight pause. Doctor Rockwell is not going to believe I'm doing better without medication but I really think something's clicked inside me. A deep breath. I even seem to be breathing easier. And I'm not feeling that sort of fuzziness in my head. It's like some big bird has been hovering over me for fifteen years, and suddenly it's flown away. KAREN: I can't stand dead animals, can you? PATRICIA: Well just insist that he has to stop hunting! You don't have to stand for that, you're a person. KAREN: Well you know, men like to... PATRICIA: Not all-I've known some lovely men. Not many, but a few: This minister I mentioned?he came one day this summer and sat with me on our porch. and we had ice cream and talked for over an hour. You know, when he left his previous church they gave him a Pontiac Grand Am. He made me realize something: he said that I seem to be in like a constant state of prayer. And it's true; every once in a while it stops me short, realizing it. It's like inside me I'm almost continually talking to the Lord. Not in words exactly... just-you know-communicating with Him. Or trying to. Deeply excited, but suppressing it. I tell you truthfully, if 1 can really come out of this I'm going to... I don't know what... fall in love with God. I think I have already. KAREN You're really beautiful…
Book cover The Penguin Arthur Miller Centennial, 1915-2015 Arthur Miller
KAREN: Well you know, men like to . . .
PATRICIA: Not all—I’ve known some lovely men. Not many, but a few. This minister I mentioned?—he came one day this summer and sat with me on our porch . . . and we had ice cream and talked for over an hour.
#arthurmiller #theLastYankee #books #plays
