The Meat Man: Anthony "Tony" Carvelli
-loyal to family
-a tough exterior covering sensitivity
-highly knowledgable about meat
Monologue 1:
I know right away I'm going to take over this family business some day. Vick is going to New York, study at NYU, he's gonna be a big man, you know? Real intelligent. Study science or some shit, become a real prestigious scientist some day. That's his thing. And little Nicky, I don't know what that kid is gonna do, but I can tell you right now, he's not staying here in Jersey. He's gonna write or something. That kid is a wonder. Only twelve years old and already reading Hemingway and Shakespeare and all that stuff. But me? I don't have none of that stuff. I've got my place in the world, and that's here, with my meat. I know my meat. I can look at any given slab of flesh and tell you what it's from, how old it is, how much it goes for on any normal market and how much it's really worth. That's me. The meat guy. Just like my daddy and his daddy before him. When my old man dies, I'll take over Carvelli's Butcher right away, not gonna go to college or nothing. I mean, sure, maybe if I was given the chance, I'd like to get my education, see the world a little bit. But I'm not gonna do that, because people need me here. Carvelli's needs me, and more important than that, my ma needs me. I know for sure she'll be around long after Dad's gone, because she doesn't smoke or drink or nothing. She's a good Christian lady, you know? Anyways, I've got to assume that when Dad's gone, she'll need me around to help her because she'll be real old then. So my plan had pretty much been laid out in front of me. I take over Carvelli's. I take care of Ma, do whatever she needs me to and keep her around as long as I can. Then when she's gone, I could maybe find a nice girl. But I'm not going anywhere. I got my ma, I got my meat. That's all I need to worry about. I can always travel later, right? I mean, whoever I marry has got to be interested in that sort of thing too. What I'll do, I think, is wait until I'm real old, so my sons are maybe thirty or so, and then I can leave them at Carvelli's and take my wife and we'll travel the whole damn world, top to bottom. I think I might like that a lot. Especially if the girl is pretty still.
Monologue 2:
That kid is a wonder. Little Nicky Carvelli, twelve years old and precocious as anything. I mean, I didn't even know that word, "precocious", until Nicky went and taught it to me. Kid always has his head in a book. And not just school stuff, either. He does it for fun. I'll be chopping up a cow or something in the meat locker and he'll be over in the corner in his winter jacket and gloves, sprawled out on a towel reading Vonnegut! He tells me it's the only quiet place he can find to do his reading. Imagine that. The kid's just such a quiet thing, scares me half to death sometimes because I didn't even notice him in the room for a whole twenty minutes! He's nothing like those boys his age, running around and hollering and destroying whatever they can find. That's not my Nicky. Nicky's different. He's no loony either. I mean, it's not like he doesn't have social skills like some kids who are always reading. He's just real intelligent is all. And I gotta say, kid's gonna turn out real handsome. He's got these real big thoughtful eyes, amber like Ma's, but harder, more serious. It's kinda funny to see eyes like those on a kid in middle school. Like he knows something I don't and he's never gonna tell it. He's a real good kid. Someone you could be proud of, you know. Dad hardly is though, since the business is the only thing that matters to him. So what I do is, I make sure little Nicky feels loved. I try to be like a substitute father, you know? Vick won't do it because he's all wrapped up in his studies, so I see no reason why I shouldn't. I mean, I really do care about the kid. He's one of the only things I really do give a damn about.
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