28 However, he does not deliver the message by himself. He asks the orator to
deliver his message. OLD MAN
: Yes, Colonel, they are not here yet, but theyll be here. And the Orator will speak in my behalf, he will explain
the meaning of my message. ..Take care, Colonel, this Ladys husband may arrive at any moment
. Act 11: 10
OLD MAN : …. Were waiting for the Orator, hell tell you, hell
speak in my behalf, and explain everything that we hold most dear. . . hell explain everything to you. . .when? ..
when the moment has come. . .the moment will come soon. . . Act 19: 19
Those statements show that the old man does not want to deliver the message. Actually, only the old man itself knows what the meaning of the message is.
When the message is ready to deliver, he does not want to tell. Then, he calls the orator to deliver the message. It is indicated that he is infantile because he runs
away from his problem and gives the problem to the other, in this case the orator.
2. Irresponsible
By his own action and speech, the old man shows himself as an irresponsible man. He does not take the responsible of his job or obligation. His
irresponsibility can be seen when he is a child and a father. In the beginning, the old man weeps and moans when the old man is
talking about his job, general factotum. He calls his mamma and asks where she is. Then, he states that he is an orphan. It means that he does not have mamma.
OLD MAN : I let my mother die alone in a ditch. She called after
me, moaning feebly: “My little child, my beloved son, don’t leave me to die all alone…Stay with me. I don’t
have much time left.” Don’t worry, Mamma, I told her,
29 I’ll be back in a moment….I was in a hurry… I was
going to the ball, to dance. I will be back in a minute. But when I returned, she was already dead, and they
had buried her deep… I broke open the grave, I searched for her.. I couldn’t find her. Act 14: 13
It means that the old man does not take the responsiblity as a child to accompany his parents when they are in trouble. People usually prefer choosing their family’s
importance to choosing the others. People like being together with their family to get laugh together. Furthermore, people like being together also with their family,
although their family are in trouble or bad situation. In this case, the old man is different. In the difficult situation, when his mamma was dying, he chose to “kill”
her. Although his mamma asked him to stay beside her to accompany her, he still chose to leave her. He said that he would be back soon. However, his mamma
passed away when he came back. The irresponsibility of him can also be seen when the old man becomes a
father. He had a child. Then, his child left him. THE OLD WOMAN : He said to me:”You kill birds Why do you kill
birds?”… but we don’t kill birds.. we’ve never harmed so much as a fly… his eyes were full of big
tears. He wouldn’t let us dry them. He wouldn’t let me come near him. He said: “Yes, you kill all the
birds, all the birds.”… He showed us his little fists… “You are lying, you’ve betrayed me The
streets are full of dead birds, of dying baby birds.” It’s the song of the birds ..”No, it’s their death
rattle. The sky is red with blood.”… No, my child, it’s blue. He cried again: “You’ve betrayed me, I
adored you, I believed you to be good.. the streets are full of dead birds, you’ve torn out their eyes..
Papa, Mamma, you’re wicked... I refuse to stay with you.” … I threw myself at his feet… His
father was weeping. We couldn’t hold him back.
30 As he went we could hear him calling: “It’s you
who are responsible”…. Act 14: 13
It means that the old man does not take the responsiblity as a father. The old man cannot hold his child back and stay. His child goes away while saying if this is the
old man who is responsible. It is a direct speech from the old man’s child if the old man and his wife kill the birds. The child feels like they betrayer him. He feels
disappointed because of that situation. In the other hand, it means that the old man also does not take care of his child well. He does not understand what his child
likes and needs. Furthermore, after his child goes, he does not try to search for his child. He is staying still and doing nothing as it happens and he does not care.
Because of that moment, he and his wife live alone without his child. His child never comes back. In brief, he is failed as a father.
The other evidence of his irresponsibility is the old man’s inability to deliver the message. Because the message is all about his experience so that it
should be his task to deliver his own message. In the end of the story, he does not deliver the message. He even hires the orator to speak.
OLD WOMAN : Its easy once you begin, like life and death. .. its
enough to have your mind made up. Its in speaking that ideas come to us, words, and then we, in our
own words, we find perhaps everything, the city too, the garden, and then we are orphans no longer.
OLD MAN : Its not I whos going to speak, Ive hired a
professional orator, hell speak in my name, youll see
He runs away from his task. He has the idea which should ne heard by everybody because it is important. However, he does not do that. Hiring professional orator,
31 according to him, is the way how the message is delivered. It seems like he relies
the problem to the orator. Therefore, he is irresponsible.
3. Absurd
