Curse of the Starving Class

Weston, clean-shaven and neatly dressed in a clean shirt, new pants, and shined shoes, folds freshly laundered clothes in the kitchen, now cleared of wood, tools, and scattered artichokes. For the first time in the play, he seems sober, even cheerful. As he folds laundry, he talks at length to the lamb, still in its fence enclosure. He tells the lamb that its maggot infestation will soon be a thing of the past, now that it has proper care, a warm home, and a “new door” to keep drafts out. He segues into a “true story” from years ago, when he castrated lambs in the field as part of his farm duties. Noticing a big, “cold” shadow looming overhead, he looked up and saw a “giant eagle,” who was making sharp, aborted dives, presumably attracted by the lamb testes at his feet. To “oblige” him, Weston threw a few of these “remnants of manlihood” (183) onto the roof of a nearby shed. Soon, like a “thunder clap,” the eagle came tearing down, shredding up the shed’s tarpaper roof as it snatched up the testes. His heart leaping with strange excitement, Weston began shouting his “fool head” off, cheering for the eagle.