How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
SAM. Is he better?
HALLY. (Sharply) No! How the hell can he be better when last night he was groaning with pain? This is not an age of miracles!
SAM. Then he should stay in hospital.
HALLY. (Seething with irritation and frustration) Tell me something I don't know, Sam. (999-1004)
Hally's under a lot of pressure. His father's pain eats away at him, but he has no power to make sure his father stays at the hospital rather than coming home. His powerless is what leaves him hopeless.
Quote #5
SAM. He's at least got you at night.
HALLY. (Before he can stop himself) And we've got him! Please! I don't want to talk about it anymore. (Unpacks his school case, slamming down books on the table) Life is just a plain bloody mess, that's all. And people are fools. [. . .] They bloody well deserve what they get.
SAM. Then don't complain. (1020-1029)
Sam gives Hally a taste of his own medicine. If people deserve what they get, then Hally deserves his bleepin' mess of a life, right? The irony here is that all the people on stage have dissatisfying lives, and really none of it is their own fault. Whether it's racial inequality or physical illness, all the characters are suffering.
Quote #6
HALLY. [. . .] Anybody who thinks there's nothing wrong with this world needs to have his head examined. Just when things are going along all right, without fail something or somebody will come along and spoil everything. Somebody should write that down as a fundamental law of the Universe. The principle of perpetual disappointment. If there is a God who created this world, he should scrap it and try again. (1030-1038)
Hally must not have heard of Murphy's Law, which sounds a lot like his new fundamental law of the Universe. He uses the language of physics or science to express his emotional disappointment. It's almost as though academic discourse is the only way he knows how to give credit to something; if it's too sentimental he discounts it, but by making it a law of the universe he can actually begin to deal with his unhappiness. He intellectualizes everything. When you do that and ignore feelings, it's guaranteed that those feelings come back to bite you.