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Mine Eyes Have Seen

CHRIS: [clenching his fists] You call me...

Overview

Character
Gender
Male
Playing Age
Young Adult, Adult
Style
Dramatic
Act/Scene
Act One, Scene One
Time & Place
An apartment in a manufacturing city in the Northern United States during the First World War in 1918.
Length
Short
Time Period
Classical
Show Type
Play
Age Guidance
Thirteen Plus (PG-13)

Context

Text

CHRIS: [clenching his fists] You call me that? You, whom I'd lay down my life for? I'm no slacker when I hear the real call of duty. Shall I desert the cause that needs me--you--Sister--home? For a fancied glory? Am I to take up the cause of a lot of kings and politicians who play with men's souls, as if they are cards--dealing them out, a hand here, in the Somme--a hand there, in Palestine--a hand there, in the Alps--a hand there, in Russia--and because the cards don't match well, call it a misdeal, gather them up, throw them in the discard, and call for a new deal of a million human, suffering souls? And I must be the Deuce of Spades?

Dunbar-Nelson, Alice, Mine Eyes Have Seen, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1918, pp. 271-275.

Performance Tips

Emotional Beat Breakdown

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