Guillem González The Birthday Party

8/13/2019 Guillem Gonzlez The Birthday Party

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Theres no one in the classroom, when Stanley enters; only an old table at the bottom and some

chairs scattered in front of it, like a bunch of exhausted dogs. Everything has an air of disordered

oblivion, like an abandoned park. Stanley approaches the flock of chairs, strolls around them and

chooses the chair that he considers to be less savage. efore sitting down, he notices a drawing

in the back of the chair! a man with a huge head, a pair of glasses over an enormous smile and a

drum hanging on his neck; instead of hands, he has two drumsticks. Stanley smiles at it and sits,

crushing the drummer with his back. "e puts his folder on his lap and waits.

#t is ten past nine and nobody arrives. The classroom is $uiet like a cathedral.

Through the windows, Stanley looks at the building in front of him! it is grey and aged,

and it allows almost no light in; it also looks abandoned. ehind the table there is a blackboard

with some drawings and unintelligible words written, like the nightmares of a community of

ancient savages. Stanley stands up, leaves the folder on the chair and goes towards the

blackboard to see them better! in the middle, a blindfolded woman with a floral dress dancing

above a name! %eg; in her left, an old man on an armchair with a young woman on his lap,

called %r &oldberg and 'ulu; at her right, two men! one with a glass in his hand and a torch in

the other, named %c(ann; besides him, the other man wears glasses and an enormous smile, but

has no name on him.

)"ulloooooo*.

+ext to the blackboard, lying down in the corner, a ragged man, about fifty years old,

smiles like a uddha. #t seems that he ust woke up.

)"i*, says Stanley, $uite scared, )# hadn-t seen you*.

)"ulloooo*, repeats the man, merging the -o- with a big hangoverlike yawn.

)'et-s see if the class starts...*, says Stanley, breaking the silence.

)/on-t worry, they-ll be late. 0s you can see, yesterday we had a great time*, says the

smiling man, pointing at the blackboard. )ut # don-t remember you, you didn-t come to the

party, didn-t you1*

)+o, # thought today was the first day of class*.

)2h, yes, but yesterday we inaugurated the course. They have such happy faces*, says the

man, pointing again at the blackboard, )it is evident how much they enoyed the party, isn-t it1*

Each time he has said )isn-t it* and )didn-t you*, he has intensified his smile, showing his

white teeth 3apish grinding machines3 and his red, meaty gums, like a raw steak.

)4hat a party, yesterday-s, what a party5*

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Then, he stands up and moves away from the table and the blackboard; he sits down on a

chair, Stanley-s chair, precisely; Stanley is looking at him from the table.

)0re you the literature teacher1*, Stanley asks him.

)'iterature, me1 +o, no, literature... # don-t...*, says the smiling man, shrugging.

0gain, the classroom remains silent. Stanley moves towards the chairs. "e stops next to

the man, looking at his chair and his folder.

)Excuse me, but # think that you ust sat on my chair, and on my folder...*

)#s this your chair1*, says the smiling man; when he stands up, he looks at the back of the

chair. )2h, it-s true5 6our portrait looks exactly like you, you only miss the glasses and the

drum5*

The man stands up and sits on another chair. 4hen Stanley sits down, many students

come in. Stanley turns and sees them moving forward. They all sit, except one, which goes on

until the blackboard and erases the drawings with his sleeve; when he finishes, he cleans his

sleeve and sits with the rest.

The drawings- disappearance $uiets them. Each of the students looks alternatively at the

smiling man and at Stanley.

)6ou are the teacher, aren-t you1*, one of the students asks the man.

)6es, yes, # am, sure # am*, he says, looking at Stanley. )#t was clear, isn-t it, Stanny1*

)"ow do you know my name1*, asks Stanley. 'ike a tennis match, the looks of the

students ump from the teacher to Stanley.

)0 teacher must know his students, even the first day of class. esides, you are the only

one who didn-t come to yesterday-s party. 4hat a party, it was cra7y5 #f you are interested in

literature, you ust missed the most literary party of the year5*

)0nd what-s your name1*

)2h, you can call me %r &oldberg*.

The students murmur and nod, slightly interested. The agitation fades away until the

classroom is in silence for a while.

)# beg your pardon*, says Stanley, )but... shouldn-t we start the class1*

)2h, we-ve already started the class*, the teacher says, standing up and gesticulating like

a puppet. )The process of learning does not stop, didn-t you know1, and therefore it can-t start.

'earning never ends and, of course, it has no frontiers! learning doesn-t care if the door is opened

or closed, if the teacher or the student talks, even life itself teaches! learning from your mistakes,

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as you should know, is very common, and observation and listening can teach too. 2ne could

say that learning is omnipresent. Even sleeping we learn stuff, kids, maybe the most interesting

ones, isn-t it1*

The students murmur again, excited. 0fter the almost passionate speech, the teacher fades

suddenly; he looks at the ground and sits.

)ut this is a literature class, isn-t it1*, Stanley asks.

)2h, literature, literature, sure it is... ut the prime lesson is this one! you always learn,

you learn everywhere, from everything and everyone. 8emember5 6ou might even learn

something about literature, if you are creative and pay attention5 # remember an old fellow of

mine who taught in the Sorbonne, in 9rance, and # beg your pardon for becoming nostalgic...*

)6ou can also learn from your memories*, a student interrupts him. )6ou can learn even

from your friends5*

)6es, yes, sure, sure. %y friend always talked about his great classes at the Sorbonne! the

students arrived and, with the teacher, together, they discussed about many subects. 9orget

about dictating and listening, no hierarchies, no books! knowledge, boys, is inside all of us, and

when you start talking, you start teaching or learning, you have to let it flow. "ave you ever

watchedDead Poets Society1 %y friend-s classes were even better5 Those were the years, the

sixties, so many books were ripped... Together, they filled the knowledge gaps that could exist,

they complemented each other! )organic learning*, they called it in those days. #n my opinion,

)choral learning* would have been a better name, because it involves many voices. 2h, dear, #

could have contributed so much...5 %y friend told me that when the bells rang, they went on

learning in the corridors and in the bar and in the streets, all the day learning. 0nd when the

students got home, they would say to their parents! learning is organic, let-s learn together5 Those

were the years, the sixties...*

)%arvelous, marvelous5*, two or three students shout, excited.

)ut, listen, # registered in the 'iterature class...*, Stanley says.

)'ook, #-m not a literature teacher, Stanny. ut knowledge, as you should have seen, is a

common matter, we have to put our personal ideas together...*

)4hat kind of ideas are you going to communicate us if you are not a literature

teacher1*, Stanley says, standing up, really angry.

)/on-t loose your cool, Stanny, you must let knowledge flow*, the teacher says, standing

up calmly and strolling around the class. )0nyway, what is literature but an extension of life1

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6ou-ll also find learning in the books, sure you will5*, the teacher goes on, with the student-s

eyes following him like lambs. )0nd outside the books there-s even more knowledge! in the bars

and the streets and the parks... ut let-s talk about books, if you want, and about life, and how

they mix sometimes. Those who attended yesterday-s party will know. They all came except you,

Stan5*

)4hat a party5*, say some of the students, moved and standing up, like the teacher.

)4hat a party5*

)+obody told me about the party...*, Stanley says, defeated, sitting down.

)The inauguration party5 0nyway, have you ever read "arold :inter, Stanny1 "ere,

everybody loves :inter, even more since he received the +obel, and even more since he died.

6esterday, we performed one of his pieces. Theater5! such a perfect combination of art and life5

Theater is like living books5 # can-t remember the name of the play, # think # haven-t even read it,

but it doesn-t matter! you-d have enoyed it, Stan5 #t was a great performance! we drank, we

laughed, we sang, we shouted, we played blind man-s stuff. 4e also made drawings5 0 real

humanistic party, yes sir*.

)ut # thought...*, Stanley says, strengthless, ) that we were going to learn lit...*

)2h, come on, stop thinking and start learning, like everybody else5*, the teacher

interrupts him. )6ou-ll see, you-ll learn so much5 6ou-ll learn until getting fed up, at our class*.

)"e-ll learn, sure, he-ll learn5*, everybody shouts, standing up and standing Stanley up,

who starts shouting madly.

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How and why did I write this story?

# did not know what to write about, so # started from the simple but effective :inter-s idea of

beginning with a plain conversation between two people and ust see what happens, where it

heads to. The two characters started talking about education and the process of learning, an idea

that in those days # had in my mind, because of an article # read in La Vanguardiaor some other

newspaper.

Then # thought what kind of relation could be established between a pretty coherent

reflection on education and "arold :inter. The work that # liked the most was The Birthday

Party; # liked, precisely, the atmosphere, absurd and oppressive, and the characters- character,

both comical and tragic; in short, its general ambiguity, its feeling of uncertainty, the kafkaes$ue

air, we could say. This is why # decided to distort a little bit one of the character-s opinion, to turn

him into a more pinteres$ue character. #t is widely known that the systematic application of the

laws of reason entails irrational results, so # brought the idea of )organic learning* to its

boundaries, beyond common sense. 0t this moment, the grotes$ue teacher %r &oldberg was

born


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physically. 0bout the teacher, he has the same role that in :inter-s work! he brainwashes poor

Stanley

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Guillem González The Birthday Party