Indignation Page #2

and greater strength.

To our fellow Winesburgians currently

serving the cause of freedom in Korea...

(officer)

Order, Arms...

Left Shoulder, Arms...

Order, Arms...

[phone rings]

Yes? (operator) Call

from Marcus Messner.

Yes, I'll accept the charges.

Marcus? Marcus, honey?

Yes, Mom. I'm here.

(Mom) You sound tired.

Are you tired?

No, I'm not too tired.

I'm just busy.

Tell me about your classes.

Have you gotten any grades yet?

It's only two weeks, Ma.

I have an American History

paper due tomorrow.

Hold on,

your father wants to talk...

So Markus, what else,

what else is going on?

Studying. Studying

and working at the library.

(Max) And what are you

doing to divert yourself?

Nothing. I don't need diversions.

I don't have the time for them.

Is there a girl

in the picture yet?

(Marcus)

Not yet.

You be careful.

I will be.

You know what I mean. Yeah.

You don't want to get into any trouble.

I won't, Dad. Stop.

That Karpen boy,

the army sent him home.

They found that

he has flat feet.

Gershowitz gave him

a job at the grocery,

first thing he's delivering the

groceries and crashes the truck...

[Max continues speaking]

[loud classical

piano music]

[knocking

at door]

You're Marcus Messner,

right?

I'm Sonny, Sonny Cottler.

This is Marty Ziegler.

We're wondering if you

have a couple of minutes,

maybe head over

to the Owl for a soda.

What's this

all about?

We're with Zeta Tau Mu. The

Jewish fraternity on campus.

We'd love to talk

to you about rushing.

Look. I'm sorry. I don't think

I'm going to join a fraternity.

Well, you don't have to.

Why don't you just come over to

the house for dinner some time?

You can come tomorrow night.

It's roast beef night.

You'll have a good meal,

meet some of the brothers,

and there's no obligation

to do anything else.

No. I don't believe

in fraternities.

Believe in them? What

is there to believe in?

A couple of like-minded guys get

together for friendship and camaraderie.

We play sports together,

we hold parties and dances.

We share our meals together, it

can get awfully lonely otherwise.

You know that out of

1400 people on campus,

less than 80

are Jewish?

That's a pretty

small percentage.

The only other fraternity

that'll have a Jew is

the non-sectarian house,

and they don't have much going for

them in the way of facilities

or really anything.

I'm a senior, Marcus. And

president of the house.

I don't want

to pressure you

but some of the brothers

have seen you around,

they think you'd make

a great addition.

They say you seem

to be a real scholar.

Did you know that since Zeta Tau

was formed just ten years ago,

we've won the Inter fraternity

Scholarship Cup five times...

more than any

other house.

Sonny's being

modest, Marcus.

He's actually the president of the

Inter fraternity Council this year.

Listen, that's great.

I appreciate your coming around, but I'm

not going to be joining any fraternity.

Can I ask why?

I, uh... I have my job,

I have my studies.

I'm just not in the market for

anything more than that right now.

Thank you anyways.

I hope you're not offended.

Not offended at all.

I admire

your determination.

Give me a ring at the house if

you think about it some more

or if you need

anything at all.

And if you decide to stay for

dinner, all the better. Deal?

Sure. Sure.

Alright.

...But the Puritans faced

a particular challenge

as, by the 1660s, the first

generation began to die out.

So in 1662 the Reverend

Solomon Stoddard

devised the so-called

Half-Way Covenant,

whereby members

of the community

could be half-members

of the church

if they agreed to abide

by its rules,

even if in their hearts

they could not profess

a complete Puritan

conversion... Yes, Jack?

So, "go along to get along."

That's right.

By allowing people

to stay part of the church,

and by extension,

the community,

the Puritan leaders were able to maintain

authority and political continuity. Yes?

Isn't that the same kind of hypocrisy

the Puritans claimed to rebel against?

(Marcus) Aren't they doing

the exact same thing

they accused

the Church of England of?

Well, Mr. Messner, hypocrisy

is a very strong word.

It is a strong word,

but as ironic as it appears,

I believe it is a word

that accurately describes

the political position of the

Puritans of the second generation.

(Sundquist) Pragmatism might

be an even more accurate term.

I do not now fool myself,

to let imagination...

...Jade me.

...jade me...

for every reason

excites to this,

that my lady loves me.

She did commend my yellow

stockings of late,

she did praise them

being cross-gartered

and in this she manifests

herself to my love,

and with a kind of injunction drives

me to these habits of her liking.

I thank my stars

I am happy.

I will be strange, stout,

in yellow stockings,

and cross-gartered, even with

the swiftness of putting on.

(Flusser) Jove and

my stars be praised!

I'll be revenged on the

whole pack of you!

Flusser's a real star.

You gonna come see

this thing?

You know as well as I

that Marcus is a scholar.

He hasn't time for frivolities

like the theater.

(Marcus, off) What is it that

pivots or turns a person

from existence

to non-existence?

For myself, perhaps it was

the unceasing movement

of Olivia Hutton's leg.

That night, I had to stay up

til 3 am to finish the homework

I didn't get done while I

was watching that leg,

rehearsing in my head how

I would ask my roommate

Ron Foxman the loan of his beloved

1940 LaSalle Touring Sedan,

building up the courage to ask

Olivia Hutton out on a date.

Weekday curfew

is 9pm sharp.

Okay. I will have her back by then.

Thank you.

Why are you

thanking me?

Uh, sorry.

And you're sorry because...?

I'm... just going to sit...

[giggling]

[sigh]

(Marcus, off)

Dear Olivia,

You think I've spurned you because of

what happened in the car the other night.

As I explained, it's because nothing approaching

that has ever happened to me before.

Just as no girl has ever

said to me anything

resembling what you said

to me in the library tonight.

You are different

from anyone I've known,

and the last thing you could

ever be called is a slut.

You're mature.

You're beautiful.

You are vastly more

experienced than I am.

That's what threw me.

Forgive me.

Say hello

to me in class.

You f***er!

Oh, I'm not the slut.

It's no fun

being in the hospital alone.

I brought these over

to keep you company.

It was worth

the appendicitis.

I doubt it.

Were you

in a lot of pain?

For about an hour or so

before I blacked out.

The best part came

in Dean Caudwell's office.

He called me in to grill me

about changing my dorm

I puked all over his trophies.

Then you turn up.

It's been a great case

of appendicitis all around.

Let me get something

to put these in.

Escargot. It's the name

of the restaurant.

Snails...

I have a feeling Marcus Messner has

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