"Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community." (George Bailey)
George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart in the movie It's a Wonderful Life, delivers a speech to Mr. Potter about his deceased father's Buildings and Loan business. George admits that, while his father was not a good businessman, he had a heart for the downtrodden, something Potter lacks. This speech is a microcosm for the whole movie.
Here is an excerpt from George Bailey's speech:
"Now hold on, Mr. Potter. Just a minute now. Now, you're right when you say my father was no businessman. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap penny-ante building and loan, I'll never know. But neither you nor anybody else can say anything against his character because his whole life was -- Why, in the twenty five years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once thought of himself. Isn't that right, Uncle Billy? He didn't save enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But he did help a few people get outta your slums, Mr. Potter. And what's wrong with that? Why -- here, you're all businessmen here. Don't it make them better citizens? Doesn't it make them better customers?
You said that they had to wait and save their money before they even thought of a decent home. Wait? Wait for what? Until their children grow up and leave them? Until they're so old and broken down that -- You know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well, in my book he died a much richer man than you'll ever be." (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechitsawonderfullifeboardaddress.html)
No comments:
Post a Comment