The Garden Party, Act 2 Scene 4

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THE GARDEN PARTY

PETER, e ac h w ea rin g o nly a h as tily a rra ng ed O 1J er CO Q 1.)

MRS PLUDEK: Goodness gracious me! Is something the matter

AMANDA: There's nothing the matter. Here is a letter. I meantelegram.

PLUDEK: Read it!

AMANDA: (Reading) DEAR ALBERT, I HEAR THAT YOUR SON

HUGO HAS BEEN PUT IN CHARGE OF LIQUIDATING THE

LIQUIDATION OFFICE. Have you got it, Ann darling? We'

push off at twelve. Don't bother, love, I'll take the ham in

own juice. I SHOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY

CONGRATULATE HIM ON HIS SIGNAL SUCCESS. You m

you've never been in Nespeky? Carbons? In Hirsch's desk.

Just wait till you see the woods! Please carry on. WE OUGH

TO MEET ONE DAY. Don't forget to take - YOURS FRANKKALABIS - your swimsuit.

MRS PLUDEK: Did you hear that, Alben? The liquidation of theLiquidation Office!

PLUDEK: I heard it, Berta. Iaros wished to be a goldsmith and he

became one. Hugo asked himself - and there you are _ a

signal success. Besides, as far as Japan is concerned_

MRS PLUDEK: (T o AMANDA)What exactly were you doing in thepantry the whole night?

AMANDA: Sorting the post. Goodbye.

(AMANDA and PETER l eave in OPPO si ted i rec t ion s . )MRS PLUDEK: Listen, Bertie-.

PL UDEK: What is it?

MRS PLUDEK: Hugo is nicely taken care of. Shouldn't we now

look out for something for Peter? Mter all, he too is ourchild.

PLUDEK: Oh, we'll find something for him. He might go to workfor some paper.

'1 MRS PLUDEK: Wouldn't they mind him looking like a bourgeoisI intellectual? If only he'd stop wearing those glasses!

, PL UDEK: They haven't got a single intellectual among them, so

they're bound to think better a bourgeois one than none at

all. At least he knows which way is up, Did somebody ring?MRS PLUDEK: No.

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THE GARDEN PARTY

Iltxwbell r ings.)

It ' Hugo!

IIlIltK: At last! . A

ters s ': ZI w e a rin g h is g ay papier-mache nose .)II/Coen ~,.. dl

J I ure our darling little Hugo would g~t.ahea. .

I Well done, you rascal! What about grvmg him

uucthing good to eat? .. fmilkI I 1/nax: Now what would he like? A mce little glass 0

, limps? b 'III A nice little cup of coffee, I'd say. The poor ugger s

I••1 1 up the whole night. I Wh

I" IIl)EK: He may have got no sleep, but he got ahead. h 0

h ight not feel like talking to us now that he asII1WS, e ID1

,l e important position, Albertl . I

I,

lie has a friendly word for everyone, even for the simp estI • . If I've comelolk. As a matter offact, I'm counting on ~tmyse . I . h

I to have a little chat with him and see if perhaps mig t

. him a hand with this or the other. What about that11 11 give

lIi.e cup of coffee? . . H

I.UDEK: Yes, of course, as soon as our darling little ugo

urives,

1'10: He's not home yet? . id .1 I' JlI(K: He was probably delayed by that liqui .anon.

L· idatin g a Liquidation Office IS no easy matter,I'LUDEK: IqW

y uknowl . id .H· . li uidating at the very time the Liqui anonII 0: Your UgOlS q

Office is being liquidated? .

I I IJ1)EK: That's not what my wife mc:an~. S.heJ~st meant to say

that Hugo shouldn't be doing this liquidation.

. And who'd liquidate the Liquidation Office?1/(,0.

I,IIDEK: Our Hugo. . .. th

1111GO : You mean your Hugo wo~d ~ liq~d~ung a; every

time the Liquidation Office IS being liquidatedi .

It PLUDEK: That's not what my husband In:~t. ~e Just meant

M to say that Hugo shouldn't ~ do~g ~e liqwd~non.

And who'd liquidate the Liquidation Office.IIJGO:

MRS PLUDEK: Our Hugo.

45



THE GARDEN PARTY

HUGO: Me! You mean who I am? Now look here, I don't like

one-sided way of putting questions, I really don't! You

one can ask in this simplified way?No matter how one

answers this sort of question, one can never encompass

whole truth, but only one of its many limited parts. What

rich thing isman, how complicated, changeable, andmultiform - there's no word, no sentence, no book, no .

that could describe and contain him in his whole extent.

man there's nothing permanent, eternal, absolute; man is

continuous change - a change with a proud ring to it, of

course! Today the time of static and unchangeable catego •

is past, the time when Awas only A, and B alwaysonly B .

gone; today we all know very well that A may be often B as

well asA; that B may just as well be A; that B may be B, bu

equally it may be A and C; just as C may be not only C, butalso A, B, and D; and in certain circumstances even F may

become Q,Y, and perhaps also H. I'm sure you yourselves

must feel that what you feel today you've not felt yesterday,

md what you felt yesterday you don't feel today, but might

rhaps again feel tomorrow; while what you might feel the

day after tomorrow you may never have felt before. Do you

f cl that? And it's not hard to see that those who today

understand only today are merely another version of those

who yesterday understand only yesterday; while, as we all

know, it's necessary today somehow to try and understand

also that which was yesterday, because - who knows - it may

come back again tomorrow! 1ru is iust as complicated and

multiform as everything else in the wor - e magnet, the

~telephone, p . . , e magnet - and we all are a ittl

hit what we were yestetd:ay and a liffIe bitwhat we are today;

and also a little bit we're not these things. Anyway, we all are

a little bit all the time and all the time we are not a little bit;some of us are more and some of us are more not; some only

are, some are only, and some only are not; so that none of us

i entirely is and at the same time each one of us is not entirely;

\ and the point is just when it is better to be more, and to not

be less, and when - on the contrary - it is better less to be

50

THE GARDEN PARTY

.d he who is tOOmuch may soon1 1 Imore to not be; besi e~, _.,;n situation _ isable to a

all d he who - m ace. <AU£& th1 1 1 1 1 be at , an . another situation be all eI I1 in extent to not ~, maY:hether you want more to be or\••It r for that. I don t know be or not to be' but I know I

d h you want to '1 1 1 1 1 10be, an w e~ and that's why all the time I mus~a

ut to be all the ume hen he is from time to tune a1I111cbitnotbe. You~,.manhedwth by' And if at the moment. . t dimims ere.

hi ll bit no~1Sno . _ rather not, I assure you that soonIun - relauvely speaking I' been and then we can

h than ve ever -1might be muc more all th things but on an entirelyh ve another chatabout t~(Walks :n a.)Iltfferent platform. Ch~kma .

l'l.UDEK: Listen, Berue-.. ",)

1I111.K:Whatls It. ha h said was it?

\'1.UDEK: Not bad w t e 'w wh ?IIIILK: It was excellent! And yOUkno Y ~

l'tUDEK: Why? has' his veins the healthy philosophy

I "IIHK: Because dearly ~ey ~ow without gumboots not evennf the middle classes. ou, 'bes can get to Kravovec.u . ,

( ing s) Rule Bohemta.Bohemia rules the waves

Bohemians

Never, never, never -} don't overrun usl When theyPLUDEK: SOlong as the aPllswillbark'

all th hounds of he .come, e L••_" b ks inside th e c upboa rd .)(J us t then a he ll-fWU1~ ar

th 'ehere'I IUDEK: Berta, ey r 'b d a nd co mes ri gh t dow n to th e

(FALK s tePs ou t o f th e c up oa r

food igh ts .) . ud . e ) And now, without sort of muchIAl.K: (A dd ressm g the a tenC

ado - go home!

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The Garden Party, Act 2 Scene 4

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