Les Blancs by Lorraine Hansberry

Author:Lorraine Hansberry [Hansberry, Lorraine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-81556-9
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2012-01-11T05:00:00+00:00

(She sits, worn out by the effort. TSHEMBE observes and absorbs)

TSHEMBE Good night, Madame.

(He turns on his heel as only very resolute men can do and exits)

MADAME (Reaching out and ending the light of one of the candles at the bier) Well, now … the darkness will do for this hour, will it not?

(She settles back, both hands on her cane, to keep the vigil and await some final episode. As the lights dim, ABIOSEH enters the compound and starts in)

Dimout

ACT TWO

SCENE 9

In the darkness—the laughter of a hyena and the sounds of night as in the Prologue.

It is not long after. The Mission is bathed in moonlight. Ceiling lanterns flicker in the parlor, where MADAME sits as before. ABIOSEH stands by the coffin.

ABIOSEH Madame, your husband was an extraordinary human being, above race, above all sense of self. I know he would have approved of what I did. (MADAME says nothing) There was no other way to handle the terror. Madame, don’t you agree? (MADAME says nothing. He crosses down and sits on the veranda edge) Well, it will be over for good now. If men choose violence they will be met by violence. Am I right, Madame? (MADAME says nothing) Those who live by the sword … (He suddenly pauses, regarding the night) What a marvelous light. How beautiful this day has been. How beautiful the night … Ah, but how I wish you could have seen the sunset! That was always your favorite time, was it not, Madame? Today it looked as if the edge of the earth was melting. God was raining down glory.

MADAME Glory, Abioseh?

ABIOSEH (The irony is lost on the man wrapt in his own reflections) Do you remember the stories you used to tell us to explain the sunset? (Smiling with warm remembrance) I believed those stories with all my heart, Madame. But not Tshembe. No, not Tshembe. (TSHEMBE enters unseen, wearing the robe his father had last worn to the Mission, and walks slowly to MADAME) My brother wouldn’t have it that the sun was eaten by a giant who rose out of the ocean. Remember? (TSHEMBE places his hand on MADAME’s shoulder and she covers it with hers, but says nothing) He had to know exactly what happened to the sun when it went down, and where it went. He always—

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