Adrianos, This Heart is Broken

Adrianos is an aging immigrant from a Mediterranean island. He was raised to be a fisherman but came to the US seeking to avenge a betrayal of trust by an American sailor. In a day-long monologue, Adrianos describes key moments of his life in the US, his growing understanding of himself and of the strange customs and attitudes he encounters. He also describes loving connections with several Americans, relationships that offer a redeeming contrast to his sustained criticism of American values. Adrianos' point of view as an outsider provides him with a perspective on America that is by turns frightening, revealing, funny, and tragic-but always deeply human.

"Young people have no business being doctors. They have no place in law. They are too young to be staring all day into that rot and decay. Only at middle life should a man or woman study the medicine or the law-and even then, only with a calling to heal, a howl for justice on the lip. But then, for the American, there is always money and power. For myself I have had no calling. That is why I sit here in this park today, my long legs stretched before me, and watch the desert light to leap from the little waves the wind makes on the dirty pond. It is why I dream always of fishes."