How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
"You want me to go?" (2)
These are some of Eddie's first words to May. Apparently she's not super happy to see him. There's a lot of push/pull between the two of them on the subject of whether he should leave or stay—May can't seem to decide which she would prefer.
Quote #2
"Don't go!!!" (23)
See, didn't we tell you? Even though she was not jazzed to see him, she's devastated every time he tries to leave. Every. Single. Time.
Quote #3
MAY: …How many times have you done this to me?
EDDIE: What.
MAY: Suckered me into some dumb little fantasy and then dropped me like a hot rock. How many times has that happened?
EDDIE: It's no fantasy.
MAY: It's all a fantasy.
EDDIE: And I never dropped you either.
MAY: No, you just disappeared!
EDDIE: I'm here now aren't I? (83-90)
It seems May has good reason not to want to get too attached to Eddie and his presence—according to her, he's run out on her in the past. Eddie doesn't seem to think she should hold that against him, since he's there right at this very second.
Quote #4
"Why couldn't you just stay put. You knew I was comin' back to get you." (6)
In Eddie's view, May should basically just sit around and wait for him when he runs out on her for long stretches, even though it made her feel abandoned and alone.
Quote #5
"Eddie! Where are you going? Eddie!" (142)
Here's yet another moment in which, after doing everything she can to tell Eddie he's not welcome, May flips out when he actually does leave. Can you say "vicious cycle"?
Quote #6
MAY: It'll be the same thing over and over again. We'll be together for a little while and then you'll be gone.
EDDIE: I'll be gone.
MAY: You will. You know it. You just want me now because I'm seeing somebody else. As soon as that's over, you'll be gone again.
EDDIE: I didn't come here because you were seein' somebody else! I don't give a damn who you're seeing! You'll never replace me and you know it! (206-209)
May herself seems to realize it's a never-ending cycle of bad behavior with Eddie—even if they're together right now, the time will roll around when he's not. And she's trying to break out of that cycle of abandonment… oof.
Quote #7
"Amazing thing is, neither one a' you look a bit familiar to me. Can't figure that one out. I don't recognize myself in either one a' you. Never did. 'Course your mothers both put their stamp on ya'. That's plan to see. But my whole side a' the issue is absent, in my opinion. Totally unrecognizable. You could be anybody's. Probably are. I can't even remember the original circumstances. Been so long. Probably a lot a' things I forgot. Good thing I got out when I did though. Best thing I ever did." (321)
This is the moment we get the play's big bombshell: the Old Man is Eddie and May's father. Also, we get the message loud and clear that the Old Man was kind of a jerk—not only did he abandon May and Eddie's respective mothers, but he thinks that getting out early was the "best thing" ever. How did this charmer get one wife, much less two?
Quote #8
MARTIN: Well, how come you didn't know each other until high school then?
EDDIE: He had two separate lives. That's how come. Two completely separate lives. He'd live with me and my mother for a while and then he'd disappear and go live with her and her mother for a while.
THE OLD MAN: Now don't be too hard on me, boy. It can happen to the best of us. (495-497)
Here Eddie is explaining his father's bigamy-loving ways to Martin, including how his pops managed to keep up two families by simply disappearing from time to time. No wonder our two protagonists have so many issues, including abandonment (particularly on May's part).
Quote #9
"The funny thing was, that almost as soon as we'd found him—he disappeared. She was only with him about two weeks before he just vanished. Nobody saw him after that. Ever. And my mother—just turned herself inside out. I never could understand that. I kept watching her grieve, as though somebody'd died. She'd pull herself up into a ball and just stare at the floor. And I couldn't understand that because I was feeling the exact opposite feeling. I was in love, see. I'd come home after school, after being with Eddie, and I was filled with this joy and there she'd be—standing in the middle of the kitchen staring at the sink. Her eyes looked like a funeral. And I didn't know what to say. I didn't even feel sorry for her. All I could think of was him." (553)
These are May's memories of how her mom reacted when the Old Man finally disappeared for good—after mama had found out about the whole other family thing. Doesn't sound like life was too great for May's mother right about then, but May had found comfort in her forbidden passion for her half brother.
Quote #10
THE OLD MAN: Now tell her. Tell her the way it happened. We've got a pact. Don't forget that.
EDDIE: (calmly to THE OLD MAN) It was your shotgun. Same one we used to duck-hunt with. Browning. She never fired a gun before in her life. That was her first time.
THE OLD MAN: Nobody told me any a' that. I was left completely in the dark.
EDDIE: You were gone. (557-560)
It seems that Eddie's mother didn't fare any better after the Old Man skipped town—sadly, she actually killed herself. The Old Man tries to shrug off any responsibility for her depression by saying he didn't know about it, and of course Eddie has to remind his dear old dad that the reason he didn't know about it was that he was gone.