Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)

STUDIES - Mária Kurdi: "You just have to love this world." Arthur Miller's The Last Yankee.

social unit is not the single person but two people. In life too we develop one another."

1

3 The ensuing encounter between Patricia and Leroy struggles through various phases of a painfully sincere review and reassessment of their relationship. The beginning sounds still in the manner of earlier misunderstandings: the "faintly patronizing tone" (21) of Patricia's address to her husband parallels Frick's condescending treatment of Leroy. Ups and downs alternate; on the way toward each other there are sharp emotional turns which indicate that their rise to (re) make a duet of healthy and trusting humans requires changes of attitude on both sides. Following complaints to the effect that even their eldest daughter has learned to look down at him, Leroy reports about having for once asked a realistic price for his quality work to meet Patricia's wish against the convictions of his own "thick skull." (23) This positive step opens up the possibility to fathom the depth of their not only strongly related but also commonly rooted problems. It is, first and foremost, the lack of trust in others, themselves and each other that they start identifying together. Patricia discovers an intricate connection between her husband's unease, untrustfulness and poverty: "You are depressed, Leroy! Because you're scared of people, you really don't trust anyone, and that's incidentally why you never made any money." (25—26) Leroy, in turn, emphasizes that she should have far more self-trust: "I'm sure of it, Pat, if you could only find two ounces of trust I know we could still have a life." (27) As far as belief in the other is concerned, Leroy attempts to convince the woman of his loyalty with the following touchingly sincere confession: "When you are positive about life there's just nobody like you. Nobody. Not in life, not in the movies, not on TV." (30) Slowly but surely, the Hamiltons manage to realize what the American poet Marianne Moore identifies as "contagion of trust can make trust"

1

4 The heavy burden of the past appears to be equally important for them to sort out. The story of Patricia'a Swedish immigrant family, begun in the foregoing part of the scene, earns a fuller discussion here. With strong 1

3 John Wallett, ed., Brecht on Theatre (London: Methuen Ltd., 1987) 197. 1

4 Marianne Moore, In Distrust of Merits, in: Robert Diyanni (ed.), Modern American Poets (New York: Random House, 1987) 363. 70