Diary 2
What’s wrong with my skirt?
Dear diary (Catherine),
Today I went out with my friends from school and I bought myself a brand new skirt because I liked it so much! I knew it was a little short but I couldn’t resist the temptation of buying it. When Eddie came home from work I showed him the skirt and I asked him if he liked it. He said it was too short and it would get guys on the streets looking at me, I told him that guys already looked at me when I walked down the streets and that my skirt wouldn’t make a difference in the way guys looked at me anyway. Before he said all that though and when he first saw my skirt I knew he liked it because an instant smile came to his face but then something in the back of his mind made him angry about the skirt, I don’t know what it was but I didn’t like it at all! Deep down though I knew he really liked it but something was holding him back from showing me that he liked it and it made me feel like I was being held back and I’m not a little kid anymore! It was a dark crimson skirt and when I bought it I knew it was going to really show off my legs but I didn’t care because I’m fed up of looking like a kid all the time! I want to grow up; I don’t want to be treated like a kid all my life like Eddie treats me all the time! I love and trust Eddie so much and every think he says means so much to me! But I can’t go on living like this being treated like a little kid all the time because it’s really starting to drive me crazy. When Beatrice came in the room and saw my skirt she really liked it! She didn’t think it was too short like Eddie did because unlike Eddie, she knows that I’m nearly an adult and that if I want to, I can start to dress like a young woman dresses! It really got on Eddie’s nerves me wearing that skirt and so I decided to ignore the annoying looks of annoyance that he kept on giving me until he stopped a couple of minutes later. After all that had happened we all got ready to have dinner, I waited listening to a song on the radio called Paper Doll while Eddie sat in his chair reading the papers and smoking a chokingly strong cigar that made me cough so I went up to my room.
About an hour later Eddie called me down saying that dinner was almost ready and so I came down to help Beatrice put the food on the table. I helped set up the table and brought the food in as soon as id laid out the cutlery with Eddie. Then we started when Beatrice came in and when we were all at the table I told them about the great news I’d got today at school in my stenography class. I’d got a job at a Plumbing Company in Nostrand Avenue by the Navy Yard. I told them how I’d got the job because my principal thought I was best student in my class. I knew that deep down Eddie would get annoyed by all of this because he usually gets annoyed about a lot of things and he did. He starting saying that I had to finish school before I got any job and I told him that I knew everything there was to know about being a Stenographer already and that there was no point in wasting any more time, not putting my skills into practice. Then Eddie started saying that the area I was going to work in was a really dangerous neighbourhood, he was being so overprotective! Beatrice thought it was great news and she was totally behind me. Then they asked me how much I was going be making and so I told them $50 a week. When Eddie heard me saying that I would be getting $50 a week he almost choked himself with the piece of meat he was eating because he was really surprised that I would be making that much. Beatrice was really happy with me and she told me how proud she was of me getting this job as a stenographer. Beatrice had made some really delicious stuff today it was really tasty. Shed cooked beautiful ravioli and Bolognese it was delicious! Eddie calmed down a bit after having dinner and he said that it was okay with him if I took the job as a stenographer. The moment he said that I was so happy, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and gave Eddie a huge cuddle followed by a big wet sloppy kiss!
Then Eddie started telling me how I looked just like a Madonna and how I was the Madonna type. I was really surprised when he said that to me because I just didn’t know how to answer back to that sort of a compliment as no one had ever said anything to me like that before! Eddie then told us about his day at the docks today and how he had unloaded a Brazil ship. He said that it was one of the best smelling ships he’d ever had the pleasure of unloading. He thought it was so nice that he and some of the guys opened up a bag to take some home with them. I can’t begin to imagine how good it must have smelled when they unloaded that ship but it must have been pretty nice. It must be great if you’re a guy working in those docks everyday with all your pals working with you too! Beatrice told Eddie to make sure he didn’t bring back any spiders with his coffee bags the next time he was going to bring one back. The last time Eddie brought one back we found a huge spider inside with all the coffee beans and Beatrice nearly had herself a heart attack! Then Eddie just wouldn’t shut up about spiders trying to scare the hell out of Beatrice, I don’t know if he scared her but he sure as hell scared the pants off me!
I then asked Eddie about our cousins Marco and Rodolfo who were coming later on today from Sicily. I Just asked Eddie a simple question about are cousins which was something I already knew the answer to but I just wanted to make sure that I was sure! I asked him “Eddie what I should say if someone asked about are cousins and what they were doing here?” He totally blew his top off ordering me not to say a word about our cousins to anyone, not even to grandma. Now that I think about it I realise that I should never have asked such a dumb question in the first place, I’ve got to learn to think a lot more before I speak and especially before I speak to Eddie because he’s such a serious guy. Eddie told me that Immigration Bureau had snitches on their pay role all over the place and that I should learn to be more careful when I talk to people and even with people who I really trust. Eddie told us about Vinny Bolzano who was a fourteen-year-old kid who’d snitched on his own uncle from Sicily to the authorities. The kid got a battering from his dad and brothers who sent him flying down the stairs like a rag dole and kicked him out of the house and onto the streets. They even spat on him for ratting on their uncle. To Sicilians ratting is the worst, most disgraceful thing you can do in life and that’s why we take it so seriously. Then I told old Eddie that there was no way I’d say anything to anyone after I heard what happened to Vinny Bolzano.
Then I asked Eddie about how are cousins were going to stay in America without the captain of the ship they came on not noticing before he left. Eddie told me that the captain and the crew had been bribed so that they wouldn’t say anything to anyone when are cousins didn’t come back. Eddie told us that are cousins at first would have to get work from the Syndicate in Brooklyn. Firstly they would have to work for the Syndicate to pay for their trip from Sicily and they wouldn’t be able to work for many other people anyway because of their illegal status. I then went out of the room to the kitchen to do the dishes. When I’d finished washing the dishes I went up to my room where I listened to a few of my favourite songs. About an hour later I heard a knock at the door and I knew that are cousins had arrived!
Diary 3
Welcome to America!
Dear diary (Rodolfo),
I couldn’t believe it, words are not enough to describe the feeling of relief that I felt once I could see the coastline of America; it felt incredible. We had finally got there and I was so relieved that this small trading ship we were on had actually made it because it was an old piece of junk, owned by a bunch of Sicilian traders! I was convinced that we were going to sink somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic because are lives where in the hands of these insane pirates! When I realised that we were actually in America the feeling of joy that came over me was unbelievable. Marco and me had always dreamt that someday we would leave Sicily to live in America, all are hopes and dreams where finally coming true! The cool, fresh harbour air was blowing all over my face and it made me feel so good, I had never felt so relaxed in my life. The journey from Sicily had been long and hard on all of us. There were around fifty of us onboard all cramped and packed together in the cargo hold of the ship below deck. It was so cramped that nobody could move an inch without bothering someone else and at one point along the journey there was almost a riot! Luckily though Marco was here and he calmed everyone down, he told everyone to wait a few more minutes saying that if they didn’t shut up and stand still that he would break all their legs with a hammer! That got everybody listening and things soon went very quiet.
The ship we were in was only a small trading vessell, which had been hired by the Sicilian Mafia to take us all the way to America. It was simple, they shipped us to America and in return we paid them back by working our asses off for the syndicate that they had already set up in New York. Once in America we would have to work for nothing until are debt to the Mafia had been repaid through the Syndicate. Who could resist such an offer, we certainly couldn’t because we were used to working for nearly nothing anyway and so to us this offer seemed like we’d struck lucky and won the lottery! I didn’t care how much the price was because I knew in my heart that anything would be better than staying in Sicily to live such a terrible life.
We got off the ship and then Marco told me to come with him and follow this guy called Tony who was going to take us to Beatrice’s place. So we both got in his car and we left for the house, I didn’t know where we were going and after about five minutes I started to get really nervous because I didn’t have a clue where we were. Marco kept telling me to relax and so I took his advice. About a minute later we were finally there, we got all are stuff out of the boot and waved good buy to Tony. I couldn’t believe it, we had actually made it to America and was every bit as good as I thought it would be. We were in Brooklyn, New York! And boy it felt good to be here.
Marco knocked on the door and a guy opened it, he said he was Eddie Beatrice’s husband, I was so happy to meet him because he seemed liked a really nice guy. Eddie told us to come in the house and so we did, then we met Beatrice are niece, we were so happy to meat her and the rest of the family. Then I met Catherine and I was especially glad to meat her because she was such a nice and friendly young lady. I started to get very shy because I was so taken by Catherine and her beauty. She was memorising, every curve on her body and every move she made excited me. Her long flowing hair was so beautiful and it smelt so good, her whole body gave off an aura which attracted me like a bee is attracted to the smell of a Rose. From the moment are eyes met we connected instantly and I knew that we were going to have something very special together. They offered us dinner but we had already eaten on the ship so we were forced to decline. I sat down next to Catherine waiting for a cup of coffee, then Catherine asked me why my hair was so light and blonde compared to Marco’s really dark hair. I told her the story about the Danes who had invaded Sicily a thousand years ago, so this was why many of us Sicilians were so naturally blonde. We started to talk about are hometown in Sicily and the kind of work we usually did if we could get any. I told them Marco was a mason and that sometimes we would build houses together where I would bring him the cement. We told them how poor the people in our town were and how the horses were even skinnier then the goats, which is kind of funny when you think about it because you wouldn’t think it was true but it is! Marco told them about his family and his son who is very sick, I felt sorry for him when he was talking about that because he looks like he really misses them a lot already and it’s only the first day.
We then asked Eddie about work and how soon we could start at the docks and how much we could potentially make. He told us we could make up to forty dollars a week, Marco and me were real happy when we heard that! I told Catherine how I really wanted to get a motorbike because of my job as a messenger back in Sicily. With a motorbike I would be the fastest and richest messenger in Sicily.
Then I told them about my talent of singing and how once I had sang in place of Andreola a Baritone who was sick, I was so good that the audience were tossing down so much money and we had enough money to survive for months. Marco told me I sang too loud and that the English audience tossed all that money not because they thought I was good but because I showed great courage. I didn’t believe that! I knew that I had sung excellently that day and that I deserved every Lira that I got! Catherine asked me if I sang any jazz and I told her I sang a lot of it. I asked here if she liked Paper Doll because it was a song that I sang very well. She said that she loved Paper Doll and I sang it for her because I was really getting to like her! She was so impressed with me and it felt good to make someone so happy as I had just made Catherine. I looked at Eddie half way through singing the song; he looked a little bit annoyed with me. He told me to quieten down because they hadn’t had any singers before and because of that people might get suspicious. So I immediately stopped because I didn’t want to upset Eddie or anything seeing as this was only the first day we were here. Eddie and I started to talk about the girls in America and Italy and how they all wanted to be actresses and singers. I told him that they wanted to be actresses especially when they where so beautiful like Catherine was. I don’t think I should have said that about Catherine to Eddie seeing as this was only the first day I had met him and because I didn’t really know how he would react to me saying something like that. I made my thoughts clear to him though and I’m glad I did that because I really do like Catherine a lot. I would really like to get to know her better! I think I’ve fallen in love with her already; she is one hell of a woman!
Beatrice then showed us our room were we were going to stay and the beds where we were going to sleep in. We were so grateful to her for letting us stay at her place. We thanked her and Eddie once more before we both went to bed because we were so tired. Catherine even gave me a goodnight kiss! From that moment on I knew that she really liked me as much as I really liked her. Destiny it seems has brought us both together and I will make sure nothing ever comes between us!
Diary 4
Living in America
Dear diary (Beatrice),
Today we were all having a friendly and intelligent conversation about life back in Sicily compared to life in America. Catherine told Eddie and I how Marco and Rodolfo had once travelled to Africa on a fishing boat. I believed Catherine right away but Eddie gave her a cold look like he didn’t believe a word she was saying. Catherine told me that my cousins had even been to Yugoslavia. Marco and Rodolfo were talking about how they used to work on fishing boats back in Sicily. The only problem was that they were family boats; nobody in their family owned one so they could only fish when one of the families was sick. No wonder they found it so hard to get any work back in Sicily! I told Marco how ironic it was that an ocean full of fish surrounded Sicily and they were still starving. Then Eddie made this silly joke about how in Sicily they paint oranges orange to make them look like real oranges because they grow green! Marco told him that the oranges in Sicily were all orange, then Rodolfo said that lemons where green; the look on Eddies face, now that was funny. Eddie almost went mad telling Rodolfo that he knew lemons were green, he was only joking. If anyone else had said that to Eddie he wouldn’t have been bothered about it, but with Rodolfo he went more than a little over the top and that got me really worried!
Marco told us that his family were all fine as he’d sent some money and his wife could now afford to buy medicine for his son. He told us how lonesome he was and how much he missed his wife and family. Eddie joked about having to count the kid’s when going back to Sicily after being away for so long! Marco told him that women always waited for their husbands to come back in Sicily. Rodolfo then told us that the town they were from was very strict and the woman would never do that sort of thing. All of a sudden Eddie starts giving Rodolfo a lecture on American girls and how they’re not so different from the girls in Sicily! At this point Eddies really getting on my nerves, it’s shameful! He say’s to Rodolfo that he’s not her father, that he’s only her uncle, which is so hypocritical! So I tell him to start acting like an uncle if he’s not her father! Catherine came home a little late yesterday from the cinema with Rodolfo, they said they were sorry and that it was because the film had lasted longer than they had expected, but Eddie just wouldn’t accept that. What a stupid question to ask them whether or not they came to America for work or to have fun. Then Catherine puts on the song Paper Doll and asks Rodolfo to dance with her. He doesn’t want to because of Eddie but I tell him to go ahead anyway. I can’t understand why Eddie always gets so upset over all these minor issues! While Catherine and Rodolfo were dancing Marco told Eddie and I about how they lived on the fishing boats. He said when Rodolfo came along everyone got fat because of his wonderful cooking. Then Eddie delivers this speech trying to make the point that there’s something wrong with Rodolfo because he can sing, cook and make dresses. He was trying to do everything he could to put Catherine off of Rodolfo, it wasn’t working so he was trying harder and harder, digging deeper and deeper. Eddie said he would take Marco and Rodolfo to see some boxing if they wanted. I was so happy because he was finally being positive about something. Then he started to teach Rodolfo a little boxing, he got a little rough and hit Rodolfo a little too hard. This was entirely my fault because I encouraged Eddie; I should have listened to Catherine and stopped it before it happened. I looked at Marco and he was beginning to get really annoyed with what was going on in front of him so he went up to Eddie asking him if he could hold a heavy wooden chair by it’s foot using only one hand. Eddie couldn’t do it but then Marco actually lifted it above his head and that was a really scary moment!
Diary 5
Sicily! You must be joking?
Dear diary (Rodolfo),
I can’t believe what happened to today when I spoke to Catherine! When I asked her what the problem was she said she wanted to live in Italy! I thought to myself “my god she must be joking!” I asked her when she was planning to go to Italy and why? There is nothing in Italy, there’s no work, there’s no money and the crime is spiralling out of control! Catherine doesn’t realise what life is like back in Sicily. She’s been brought up in a country where anything is possible, where most people can afford to live a life of luxury. I was brought up in Sicily where we have no work and we are all poor! I told her about the poverty and starvation in Sicily, how things had never been so bad before. I would never let her go through any of that and I asked her why she wanted to! She told me it was because she wanted to get away from it all, that she wanted to get away from Eddie. She started to cry saying that she wanted to live in Italy because it was such a beautiful place, that she didn’t care about how bad things were over there. I told her it was beautiful but that you couldn’t cook the view. She said she wanted to go over to Italy after we’d gotten married and had kids, I told her we’d think about it later. Then she told me I could be a singer in Rome and I told her the hard truth that Rome was full of singers who were a lot better than me anyway. I told her there were practically no jobs anywhere in Italy and that they were harder to find than Gold. If you get a job in Sicily it’s like winning the lottery, it’s that rare!
I told Catherine we could live elsewhere in America if she was afraid of Eddie so much. Once we got married and I became a citizen we could move because I’d be making more money. Then she asks me if I want to marry her just to get a passport, I knew Eddie had been putting words into her mouth! I wanted to know if it was his question or hers. I told her I was marrying her because I loved her and it wasn’t because I wanted a passport. Then I told her I was not a beggar and that Eddie was wrong to treat her like a gift. In Italy we have everything that America has except for one thing, work! I asked her if she was afraid of getting a spanking from Eddie, which was kind of funny! I love that girl so much my heart dies for her! She said she was sick of being treated like a kid all the time. She thought Beatrice was being hard on Eddie, not being sexual enough with him. She didn’t know if she loved or hated him, she was all mixed up. I told her she had to let Eddie go or she would never be happy. I held her in my arms, she asked me to teach her love so we had sex together in my room. It felt so good, it was amazing and she was amazing! Then a few minutes after we had sex Eddie came into the house. He was really early and so he easily worked out what we just done because we hadn’t had time to clean up. I don’t know what his problem is or why he hates me so much. He told me to pack my stuff and get out of the house by myself; Catherine said she was going with me. She told him she wasn’t a baby anymore but he just laughed at her and forced her to kiss him on the lips. The sight of that piece of scum kissing her was sickening! I told him to have some respect for Catherine! I knew he couldn’t wait to fight me; he wanted to beat the hell out of me. I told him we were getting married whether he liked it or not! Then he kept on mocking me so I went nuts and flew at him but he was too strong. He grabbed me in his arms and wouldn’t let me go. Then he forced me to kiss him it was disgusting! The man is sick in the head; they should lock him up in a Looney bin and throw away the key. There was nothing I could do to stop him; he was too strong for me. I’m not going to tell Marco about what happened today because it would make him kill Eddie and as much as I would like to see that happen I cant because we’ve got to respect the law over here and keep are noses clean!
Diary 6
Take a seat Mr. Carbone!
Dear diary (Alfieri)
I had a visit from the past today when Eddie Carbone came to me to seek my advice, I asked him to take a seat and to tell me what the problem was. He’d come to see me about the fears he had over his niece Catherine wanting to marry an immigrant from Sicily called Rodolfo. I new he was bad news from the moment he’d stepped into my office, he looked like a man who had committed a crime. He was seeking advice on ways in which the law would be able to help him stop Catherine marrying this young man from Sicily. I told him that there was nothing illegal about a girl falling in love with an immigrant. I asked him why he didn’t want Rodolfo to marry his niece Catherine. Eddie told me he could see it in Rodolfo’s eyes, he could see Rodolfo laughing at him and Catherine, I knew that those were the words of a jealous man! First he told me about Rodolfo’s spending, how he was buying records and clothes. I didn’t see any problem with that but Eddie suspected that it meant Rodolfo had it all planned out so that he could stab him and Catherine in the back. He told me using implicit words that it was because he suspected Rodolfo was a homosexual and that he only wanted to marry Catherine to become a citizen. Eddie told me that just because Rodolfo was blonde and that he sang a few high notes he thought we was gay. Then he tells me about the time when Rodolfo made Catherine a new dress out of an old one, how he looked so sweet while he was doing it. He kept giving me all of these examples trying to prove some point from the fact that he believed Rodolfo was gay. Eddie then tells me how sees the guys working at the docks laughing and joking a Rodolfo, but that he believes there not laughing at him because he’s funny but because they also thing he’s gay. I could see the jealousy in his eyes it was scary, I knew that if I didn’t do something Eddie Carbone would either end up a killer or a corpse, but there was nothing I could do because he was a man possessed by his tragic jealousy. I told him that everything that he’d told me proved nothing and that the law could not help him.
There was only one thing with his problem that might concern the law; this was the manner in which the immigrants had illegally entered the country. He told me that he definitely didn’t want to follow up on that route so I told him there was nothing else that that the law could do to stop Catherine from marrying Rodolfo, he looked disgusted. I told him how he had too much love for Catherine and that he was wrong to be so overprotective. I told Eddie that he had to let Catherine go because she was not a child anymore she was an adult now. Then he tells me that he’s a patsy because he worked twenty long years like a dog so that a punk like Rodolfo can marry Catherine. He was so jealous I couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t stand the fact that he had worked so long and hard to get where he was in life whereas Rodolfo comes to America falls in love with Catherine and immediately gets the chance to become a citizen! He was so full of jealousy because Catherine loved Rodolfo in a way that she could never love him! Eddie said Rodolfo was stealing from him by marrying Catherine, I told him that she couldn’t marry him! He looked at me totally confused but deep down I knew that he knew I was speaking the truth but the overwhelming jealousy inside him was just too strong! In a way I could understand his dilemma because he had never prepared for the time when Catherine would grow up and get married but I didn’t feel sorry for him because he was the one with the problem and nobody else! I told him to take my advice to let Catherine go and marry Rodolfo. He looked like he was about to burst into tears! He stood up in despair turned around, said goodbye and left my office a heartbroken man.
Trial Notes
Dialogue leading up to trial between Marco and Alfieri
Alfieri gives a piercing but understanding look to Marco and says
“What happened Marco?”
Marco sitting in his cell says “I did it in self defence, Eddie pulled out the knife not me. I could see in his eyes that he wanted to kill me so I had no choice but to defend myself, It was going to be either him or me who would come out of it alive and end up this situation. I had to kill him to protect my brother and his own family. Ask them, I know that deep down they realise that there was nothing I could have done to stop this from happening because it was Eddie’s jealousy of Rodolfo and his inappropriate love for Catherine that murdered him not me!”
Alfieri would ask Marco “are you sure you didn’t do anything to provoke him?”
Marco would say with increasing anger “no, he threatened to kill my brother and insulted me. He insulted his own niece by forcing her to kiss him! He did that to Rodolfo too, now you tell me who is the homosexual because I know Rodolfo isn’t. Eddie was a disgrace ever since we came to live with the family. All he did was insult Rodolfo and his own family. I wanted to be his friend so much, I never wanted this to happen but he was asking for it, begging me to put him out of his misery! That’s the truth!”
Alfieri would say “Marco this is insane, what you did could never be justified by any law in America, people in America live by the law and they die by it! Sicilian law doesn’t exist here because over here the people are different! If anyone who saw the fight stands up as a witness saying that you provoked the fight then I’m going to have a tough job defending your innocence because after all you are not a US citizen. If however you are telling the truth then you will not be punished but no matter what the outcome is you will be deported back to Italy!”
Marco would say “I understand what you’re saying but what about Rodolfo, will he be able to stay even if I’m to be deported?”
Alfieri would say “as soon as he’s married to Catherine he can apply for citizenship and so yes he will be able to stay”
Marco relieved would say “thank God I hope he does well in America as I’m sure he will. I hope that some day I will come back to America with my family by my side. In Sicily Eddie Carbone would have been a dead man long ago, he is the reason for my suffering, the reason why my children are now going to continue to starve. I’m sorry Alfieri, I had no other choice but to do what I did, you understand don’t you?
Alfieri would say “I do understand that you had no choice and I do believe in my heart that you are a totally innocent man, that you deserve to stay in America and even become a citizen but I’m sorry to say that the jury might not agree with me because they don’t know what it was really like that day when Eddie died. I’m sorry Marco, I truly am. I can only guarantee you one thing though that I will do my best to help you. I’ll do my best to look after Rodolfo, Catherine and Beatrice when you’re gone I promise”.
