2 quotes
Assessment of Well-Being
Martha
He's doing all right.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Fear and Denial in Troubling Conversations
Martha
There's always been something wrong. Always, just as long as I can remember. But I never knew what it was until all this happened.
Karen
Stop it Martha! Stop this crazy talk!
Martha
You're afraid of hearing it, but I'm more afraid that you.
Karen
I won't listen to you!
Martha
No! You've got to know. I've got to tell you. I can't keep it to myself any longer. I'm guilty!
Karen
You're guilty of nothing!
Martha
I've been telling myself that since the night I heard the child say it. I lie in bed night after night praying that it isn't true. But I know about it now. It's there. I don't know how, I don't know why. But I did love you! I do love you! I resented your plans to marry. Maybe because I wanted you. Maybe I've wanted you all these years. I couldn't call it by name before, but maybe it's been there since I first knew you.
Karen
But it's not the truth, not a word of it is true! We've never thought of each other that way.
Martha
No, of course you didn't. But who's to say I didn't. I'd never felt that way about anybody before you. I've never loved a man. I never knew why before, maybe it's that.
Karen
You're tired and worn out.
Martha
It's funny. It's all mixed up. There's something in you, and you don't know anything about it because you don't know it's there. And then suddenly, one night a little girl gets bored and tells a lie, and there, for the first time, you see it. Then you say to yourself, did she see it? Did she sense it?
Karen
But you know it could have been any lie. She was looking for anything to...
Martha
But why this lie? She found the lie with the ounce of truth. Don't you see? I can't stand to have you touch me! I can't stand to have you look at me! Oh, it's all my fault. I have ruined your life and I have ruined my own. I swear I didn't know it! I didn't mean it! Oh, I feel so damn sick and dirty I can't stand it anymore!
Karen
All this isn't true. You've never said it; we'll forget it by tomorrow.
Martha
Tomorrow? That's a funny word. Karen, we would have had to invent a new language, as children do, without words like tomorrow.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.