Indignation

Mrs. Anderson?

Olivia?

It is important to understand about dying

that even though in general you do not have a personal choice in the matter,

it is going to happen to you when it happens to you.

There are reasons you die.

There are causes,

a chain of events linked by causality,

and those events include decisions that you have personally made.

How did you end up here, on this exact day,

at this exact time,

with this specific event happening to you?

Hey!

May our mourners rise.

Today, we mourn the loss of young Jonah Greenberg,

fallen in Korea, fighting for his country,

at 19 years of age.

Moses Greenberg, please, to recite the Kaddish.

Amen.

Amen.

Yeah, sure.

Marcus. Hi, Mrs. Greenberg.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Yes, Marcus.

You're such a clever boy.

Jonah, he always looked up to you.

Maybe not such close friends. But he respected.

We were teammates. He was a really good guy.

Baseball. He enjoyed.

Marcus.

Don't go into this war. For your parents' sake.

You should be a baseball star.

Don't go into this draft.

He's going to college, Miriam.

They keep the ones in college from the draft.

Such a clever boy, Marcus.

A scholarship, is that right?

Yes. In Ohio, this college is.

Ohio...

how will you keep kosher?

Only one thing worse than dyin' by gettin' stabbed with a bayonet,

and that's dyin' by gettin' stabbed with a bayonet when you're still a virgin.

And Greenberg was definitely a virgin.

Yeah? I thought maybe you and Greenberg had taken care of each other

before he shipped out. Shut up, asshole.

So, when do you report?

Two weeks.

Ah, you'll be okay. You're smarter than Greenberg.

Not as smart as you.

Mrs. Davidovich. Two chickens?

Let me see. Of course.

Markie! Flick two chickens for Mrs. Davidovich, will ya?

Turn them around.

Yeah. I'll wrap them for you.

So what will you do when this one goes off next month?

The Mrs. will help. Like the old days.

I can't keep him here chopping meat like me.

I have to go see Gurevich.

You can close up early.

And bring home some brisket for your mother.

I told you, Dad. I'm going out with Davey and Sam tonight.

You didn't tell me.

I told you! We're going to the pictures.

To the pictures.

I know what you boys are doing.

I heard from Mrs. Pearlgreen, about that Eddie, going to pool halls.

Dad, I'm going to the pictures. I told you.

I'm not Eddie Pearlgreen!

For Chrissake, I don't even know how to play pool!

He took his father's car, drove all the way to Scranton

to some special pool hall they have there.

He bets, he gambles...

his father says he'll be stealing cars next.

What does Eddie Pearlgreen have to do with me?

Dad, I'm leaving in less than a month.

You think I'm tempted to steal cars?

Markie?

Mom?

Everything okay? What's going on?

Your father.

What happened?

He went out. Looking for you.

He was worried.

He's been talking to Artie Pearlgreen again, it got him all riled up.

I think he smoked three packs of cigarettes. Then he went.

What's happening to him, Mom? What's the matter with him?

He's crazy... he's driving me crazy, he's driving you crazy.

It's your leaving. It's all the boys dying,

Bennie and Abe in the last war, now this new war, I don't know.

He's worried about you. He's worried about Ohio...

So, there you are.

Yeah, strange, here I am, in my own house.

I've been everywhere looking for you.

Why? Why? Why? Somebody tell me why?

Because if anything were to happen to you...

- Oh, come on... - If anything were

to ever happen to you.

What is this all about?

It's about life, Markie.

It's about the tiniest mistake that can have consequences.

Christ, you sound like a fortune cookie.

Do I? Like a fortune cookie?

Not like the concerned father that I am

but like a fortune cookie?

I can't take this anymore- I can't take this.

You know, thank God I'm leaving.

Thank God! So I don't end up...

What? End up what?

I don't know! I don't know!

Maybe I shouldn't go.

No.

Come on.

You go.

You gotta stop worrying. It's scaring Ma.

You go.

Just... be careful.

Everything's in the envelope. You're in Jenkins 211.

That's behind the men's quad, back towards the gym.

Keys are in there, and check your class schedule, in there too.

And, looks like you're doing a campus job.

The job board is right over there.

Just take a ticket down from the board for the job you want

and turn it back in with the form.

I'd go now, otherwise all that's left is the dining hall.

Hi. Marcus Messner.

Hey. Ron Foxman.

That's Bert Flusser.

Where are you from? Newark.

Where's that? New Jersey.

Right.

Cleveland, Ohio.

Flusser's from Chicago.

He's... cultured, you'll see.

Oh, yeah? Does Flusser talk?

Oh, I talk all right. I even talk in my sleep.

I have so much to say, so much to share with the world.

Young freshman Marcus Messner,

from Newark, New Jersey.

What a surprise to find yourself in a triple with two other Jews.

What a coincidence.

Ronald and I are the only two Jews at Winesburg

who are not in the Jewish fraternity.

After all, we are juniors,

we ought to be living in

not bunking with young freshman

Marcus Messner.

Bert. Close the door at least.

Ronald doesn't like Negro Communists.

Paul Robeson in particular.

He doesn't like music at all, in fact.

If Dean Caudwell ever heard you playing that commie propaganda,

he'd probably toss you right out of here.

Dean Caudwell loves me. Dean Caudwell?

Dean of men.

And a man among deans, if I do say so myself.

In fact he's addressing us in 15 minutes.

Shit. Chapel.

Uh... chapel?

Didn't you read the handbook?

Required. Every Wednesday at 11.

You have to go to at least 10 of them a year if you want to graduate.

Might as well get started today!

To you who join us today for the first time,

to you who enter your final year,

looking out at the prospect of what may seem to be

an uncertain and dangerous horizon,

menaced as this country may be by enemies both foreign and native,

fear not, puzzle not,

hesitate not,

for the spirit of Winesburg

will animate and fortify you.

And now, Dr. Donehower will lead us in prayer.

Righteous God,

who rules the nations,

we pray that you guard all the strong young men and women

who enter the gates of Winesburg College

in the service of greater knowledge

and greater strength.

To our fellow Winesburgians currently serving the cause of freedom in Korea...

Order, Arms...

Left Shoulder, Arms...

Order, Arms...

Yes? Call from Marcus Messner.

Yes, I'll accept the charges.

Marcus? Marcus, honey?

Yes, Mom. I'm here.

You sound tired. Are you tired?

No, I'm not too tired. I'm just busy.

Tell me about your classes. Have you gotten any grades yet?

It's only two weeks, Ma.

I have an American History paper due tomorrow.

Hold on, your father wants to talk...

So Markus, what else, what else is going on?

Studying. Studying and working at the library.

And what are you doing to divert yourself?

Nothing. I don't need diversions. I don't have the time for them.

Is there a girl in the picture yet?

Not yet.

You be careful. I will be.

You know what I mean. Yeah.

You don't want to get into any trouble. I won't, Dad. Stop.