Characters: Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Vardaman and Chorus
Vardaman: (Tearfully) My momma needs air. It ainÆt right she ainÆt got no air in her casket.
Antigone: (Noticing the weeping Vardaman) Your mother is fine. She does not need air. She at least has a proper burial.
Vardaman: No, this ainÆt no justice. SheÆs æbout to suffocate. Once I wuz locked up in da crib with a rat who breathed all the air because there werenÆt no holes.
Antigone: You have justice. It is I who was denied justice by Creon, who wouldnÆt bury my brother properly.
Oedipus: You both have justice. I am the victim of injustice. Vardaman, your mother can breathe. Antigone, you buried your brother properly. You who can see have justice. I am blind and have done injustice and been victim to it.
Chorus: Oh Vardaman, Antigone, and OedipusàCan you all not see what justice is? Justice is hope. You must find hope to find justice.
Oedipus: I am blind and exiled. There is no hope.
Vardaman: My mother ainÆt got hope without holes.
Antigone: Creon does not know justice, so Thebes goes without hope.
Chorus: No individual or society is without hope, only without the ability to see and feel hope. Justice and injustice do not matter for they are personal perceptions and subjective qualities of mind. Hope springs eternal from the gods to the hearts of human beings. Hope is justice!
Vardaman Look! Look! They puttinÆ my momma in da ground wit out any holes. She will suffocate. What is justice?
Antigone: Quite child. There is no injustice in proper burial. It is only in defying the will of the gods that injustice arises. I have obeyed the gods, yet am treated to injustice. What is justice?
Oedipus: I seek justice only to find injustice. What is justice?
Oedipus: Vardaman, you must accept your fate. Your mother is no accepting her fate. She does not need holes but we need justice.
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