Joey Character Analysis

MAX. Boxing’s a gentleman’s game.

Pause.

I’ll tell you what you’ve got to do. What you’ve got to do is you’ve got to learn how to defend yourself, and you’ve got to learn how to attack. That’s your only trouble as a boxer. You don’t know how to defend yourself, and you don’t know how to attack.

Pause.

Once you’ve mastered those arts you can go straight to the top.

TEDDY. Yes, they’re about six hours behind us…I mean…behind the time here. The boys’ll be at the pool…now…swimming. Think of it. Morning over there. Sun. We’ll go anyway, mmnn? It’s so clean there.

RUTH. Clean.

TEDDY. Yes.

RUTH. Is it dirty here?

TEDDY. No, of course not. But it’s cleaner there.

TEDDY. You wouldn’t understand my works. You wouldn’t have the faintest idea of what they were about. You wouldn’t appreciate the points of reference. You’re way behind. All of you. There’s no point in sending you my works. You’d be lost. It’s nothing to do with the question of intelligence. It’s a way of being able to look at the world. It’s a question of how far you can operate on things and not in things. I mean it’s a question of your capacity to ally the two, to relate the two, to balance the two. To see, to be able to see! I’m the one who can see. That’s why I can write my critical works. Might do you good…have a look at them…see how certain people can view…things…how certain people can maintain…intellectual equilibrium. Intellectual equilibrium. You’re just objects. You just…move about. I can observe it. I can see what you do. It’s the same as I do. But you’re lost in it. You won’t get me being…I won’t be lost in it.

LENNY. You took my cheese-roll?

TEDDY. Yes.

LENNY. I made that roll myself. I cut it and put the butter on. I sliced the piece of cheese and put it in between. I put it on a plate and I put it in the sideboard. I did all that before I went out. Now I come back and you’ve eaten.

TEDDY. Well, what are you going to do about it?

LENNY. I’m waiting for you to apologize.

TEDDY. But I took it deliberately, Lenny.

LENNY. You mean you didn’t stumble on it by mistake?

TEDDY. No, I saw you put it there. I was hungry, so I ate it.

Pause.

LENNY. Barefaced audacity.

Pause.

What led you to be so…vindictive against your own brother? I’m bowled over.

MAX. […] I don’t think she got it clear.

Pause. You understand what I mean? Listen, I’ve got a funny idea she’ll do the dirty on us, you want to bet? She’ll use us, she’ll make use of us, I can tell you! I can smell it! You want to bet?

Pause.

She won’t…be adaptable!

He falls to his knees, whimpers, begins to moan and sob. He stops sobbing, crawls past SAM’s body round her chair, to the other side of her.

I’m not an old man.

He looks up at her.

Do you hear me?

He raises his face to her.

Kiss me.

She continues to touch Joey’s head, lightly. LENNY stands, watching.

MAX. Boxing’s a gentleman’s game.

Pause.

I’ll tell you what you’ve got to do. What you’ve got to do is you’ve got to learn how to defend yourself, and you’ve got to learn how to attack. That’s your only trouble as a boxer. You don’t know how to defend yourself, and you don’t know how to attack.

Pause.

Once you’ve mastered those arts you can go straight to the top.

TEDDY. Yes, they’re about six hours behind us…I mean…behind the time here. The boys’ll be at the pool…now…swimming. Think of it. Morning over there. Sun. We’ll go anyway, mmnn? It’s so clean there.

RUTH. Clean.

TEDDY. Yes.

RUTH. Is it dirty here?

TEDDY. No, of course not. But it’s cleaner there.

TEDDY. You wouldn’t understand my works. You wouldn’t have the faintest idea of what they were about. You wouldn’t appreciate the points of reference. You’re way behind. All of you. There’s no point in sending you my works. You’d be lost. It’s nothing to do with the question of intelligence. It’s a way of being able to look at the world. It’s a question of how far you can operate on things and not in things. I mean it’s a question of your capacity to ally the two, to relate the two, to balance the two. To see, to be able to see! I’m the one who can see. That’s why I can write my critical works. Might do you good…have a look at them…see how certain people can view…things…how certain people can maintain…intellectual equilibrium. Intellectual equilibrium. You’re just objects. You just…move about. I can observe it. I can see what you do. It’s the same as I do. But you’re lost in it. You won’t get me being…I won’t be lost in it.

LENNY. You took my cheese-roll?

TEDDY. Yes.

LENNY. I made that roll myself. I cut it and put the butter on. I sliced the piece of cheese and put it in between. I put it on a plate and I put it in the sideboard. I did all that before I went out. Now I come back and you’ve eaten.

TEDDY. Well, what are you going to do about it?

LENNY. I’m waiting for you to apologize.

TEDDY. But I took it deliberately, Lenny.

LENNY. You mean you didn’t stumble on it by mistake?

TEDDY. No, I saw you put it there. I was hungry, so I ate it.

Pause.

LENNY. Barefaced audacity.

Pause.

What led you to be so…vindictive against your own brother? I’m bowled over.

MAX. […] I don’t think she got it clear.

Pause. You understand what I mean? Listen, I’ve got a funny idea she’ll do the dirty on us, you want to bet? She’ll use us, she’ll make use of us, I can tell you! I can smell it! You want to bet?

Pause.

She won’t…be adaptable!

He falls to his knees, whimpers, begins to moan and sob. He stops sobbing, crawls past SAM’s body round her chair, to the other side of her.

I’m not an old man.

He looks up at her.

Do you hear me?

He raises his face to her.

Kiss me.

She continues to touch Joey’s head, lightly. LENNY stands, watching.