Starbucks Sociology

So in AP English 11 about a month ago, we had a writing assignment. We had to write a sort of play on what would happen if Thoreau and Emerson met. For context, they are both transcendentalist authors. So, for the record, its supposed to be funny and a bi

(Lights rise-It is mid-day and Starbucks coffee house is in its ususal mid-day funk. There is no one
insight but the apathetic barrista and a man quietly reading a book upside down in the corner)

(Enter Stage right-Starbucks Door-Emerson)

Emerson
(sighs)
Why must I submit myself to the dreary lulls of coffee from the culture that so
ignorantly addicts itself to it? (raises hands as if speaking to the unseen forces that be)
 Am I so completely immersed in this society that I can't bring myself to be anything but that which society has created of me? Woe am I that I be a slave to that of caffine who's hold upon my innermost being has drawn me back into her clutches once again!

Barrista
(coughs uncomfortably)
Do you, uhm...need a couple more minutes?

Emerson
(looks around the coffeehouse and returns her gaze
upon the barrista)
My dear, there is ALWAYS time if you need it. Reguardless
of that which we can understand. Time is subject to what
WE do, not what Time does for us!
(pauses)
...you wouldn't happen to have a vegan friendly mocha latte
would you?

Thoreau
(looks upward from his upside down book on modern sociology and studies the
man, then inhales and exhales a  rather loud sigh)

Emerson
(quirks an eyebrow acknowledging the upside down sociology book in his hand)
Can I help you lad? Do you happen to have a problem with my order?

Thoreau
(quietly sets down the book on the table next to him and smoothly stands, with long slow strides
towards Emmerson and circles him slowely with a quiet smirk upon his face. Stops abruptly infront of him with a small pity of a smile)

I cannot speak of your actions as if they were my own, but considering I HAVE no other thing
to compare you to, I assume I shall have to, considering this beautiful planet on which we live has no addictions to speak of...You talk of not being lulled into what society has wroght you and yet you sit and order a Vegan friendly latte? Dear sir I'd dare say you have some re-evaluating to do of what you find to be true and what you find to be hypocritical. For ordering that very latte continually allows for the problem to exist! You are further contributing to a social sect that you say so ignorantly causes its own problems! Sir, you ARE the problem! Whats keeping you
from stopping the madness? From taking a stand AGAINST the holds that this society has upon you?


Emerson

Why all the interest sir...? (says in questioning his name)

Thoreau
(is taken back for a second after his monologue esq- statement)
Henry, you may call me Henry, but it is one of my many names. And what
is the name that you go by?

Emerson
(coughs)
Waldo, it is also one of my many names..But as I asked, why the interest?

Thoreau
(sighs once more, almost in an exasperated way)
It is people like you that have no action but talk all of what society should do
that prevents change! For all who are involved,Think of it this way, behave that the odor of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere, that when we behold or scent a flower, we may not be reminded how inconsistent your deeds are with it; for all odor is but one form of advertisement of a moral quality, and if fair actions had not been performed, the lily would not smell sweet. The foul slime stands for the sloth and vice of man, the decay of humanity; the fragrant flower that springs from it, for the purity and courage which are immortal.
(takes a deep breath afterwards and nods his head towards him, feeling as though he.....thouroughly.... explained himself.)

Barrista
(blinks and clears her throat warranting the attention of both men who stare expectantly back at her as she uncomfortably fidgets underneath their gaze)
Sir? There are people in line behind you...for the record we do have a vegan friendly mocha  latte available if your still interested, if not, I'm afraid I'll have to move to the next customer...

Emerson
(nods head towards her in acknowledgment and looks back to the people presumably behind him to see about 6 people seated in the cushy chairs intently listening to the conversation between the two men. He stops and then looks at Henry)

Thoreau
(smiles and waves a hand in henry's direction as he addresses him)
There? You see! The people want to know Waldo! Why won't you stand for what you believe instead of being prisoner to what you find is holding you? Are you really a prisoner of something or are you your OWN captive?


Emerson
(smooths out wrinkles in his sweater-vest that have seem to appear and takes a breath while addressing Henry)
I believe you misunderstand me my good man. In this, I take compliment, for Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. Now in the reason I am misunderstood-is it bad to be prisoner of self? Prisoner's seem to have better treatment that those who are of their own "free will" so  to speak, at least they are taken care of, there is security of room, food, and needs, is freedom then really a great thing? To be free of self? If to be free of self is isolation and thinking outside of yourself, then I will have none of it! Humanity is too pure and beautiful a thing to waste on being outside of yourself always! Humanity is where we find our TRUE selves! Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. 

Thoreau
(leans back on his left foot and folds his arms with the consistant smile)
Men have become the tools of their tools Waldo, Tools of their Tools....Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.

Crowd
(crowd snaps in appreciation of Thoreau's comment)

Throeau
(nods in appreciation of the crowd and returns his attention to Waldo)

Emerson
Now good sir is your chance to simplify and practice what you so avidly preach. What would you order then?

Thoreau

It doesn't matter what I order, because I don't have a problem with what it is that I'm ordering. I am content in what nature has given me, the nectar of the earth, water, the only drink for a wise man, sweet, simple, beautiful. And so, some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk....for instance....my circumstance is not that of complaining of the bondage that I have towards something.

Barrista
(rolls sleeves up and takes a deep breath coming out from behind the counter)
Listen, your both illogical and running in circles!
(points at Waldo while addressing Henry)
 He can ORDER the latte if he wants because in reality, he can get what he wants! He's his own man and you are no one to tell him otherwise!


Thoreau
(starts to interject but is quickly shut down)
But I-

Barrista
(points her hand at Henry now while Addressing Waldo)
And you! You can stand up for yourself without interjecting with that of random quotes and exenstential nonsense! Be straight forward! I HAVE AN ADDICTION! SAY IT WITH ME! Caffine! An addiction that about 90 percent of american's have!

Emerson
(holds up a finger in weak rebuttle and says-)
Whoso would be a man must be a non-

Barrista
(cuts him off with an exasperated glare)
You say the rest of that sentance and you will never be welcome into this starbucks again...

Thoreau
(quietly picks up his book and starts to gather his coat along with his drink from the table quietly avoiding her gaze)

Emerson
(stammers and puts his finger down slowly)

Barrista
(looks at crowd expectantly)
If anyone actually WANTS an order, now is the time to do it.
(goes back behind the counter and places her hands on the counter proping herself up against it in awaiting the line to form)

Emerson
(walks dejectedly outside of the store-stage right- and happens upon Henry while outside. They both see each other, Henry accidentally drops his things excluding his water. Waldo picks his book and jacket up while Henry gathers his papers and such from his previously unseen suitcase. He studies the title of the book "Human Sociology for Dummies-Legalistic Edition" and smiles)
That pretty much explains it...

Thoreau
(smiles and says simply)
How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.

(Thoreau walks off after gather his things with a nod of thanks to Emerson and a hand shake. Emerson stands and nods back with a smile as he looks in his hand, a note saying "What people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can." Emerson then chuckles lightly to himself and re-enters the Starbucks as the light fades on the set)

Author's Note

If you've read Thoreau or Emerson and have read this, I would LOVE your thoughts and opinions on it.

Reviews

[kimrchrdsn]

Absolutely comical and your grasp of the two players is well done and noteworthy. You have craft and can spin the yarn from the 19th century into the next. Bravo and hope you get this published because it is so sweetly stated about modernist views. Could I share on a blog???? High school student, oh Lord, people are thinking.

[The not so Red Baron]

This is brilliant. Can't say I've ever really studied either of these mens works, but just reading it, it really caught my attention. Wonderful use of Starbucks to depict societies tendency to conform to what's acceptable.