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Stan
Jessie is an Italian American woman in her forties; she’s a close friend and coworker of Tracey and Cynthia. In 2000, Jessie and her friends have worked at Olstead’s Steel Tubing in Reading, Pennsylvania for over 20 years. The women spend most of their downtime in the local bar socializing with one another and with Stan, the bartender. Having gone to work at Olstead’s straight out of high school and given up her dreams of traveling the world to keep working and get married, Jessie is now divorced and dissatisfied with her life. As a result, she’s seemingly developed a problem with alcohol abuse: she’s passed out drunk during many of the play’s scenes and even shows up to work reeking of vodka. Although Tracey and Cynthia feel that Jessie brings them down, they still love her—and Jessie loves and supports them in return, refusing to get caught in the middle of Tracey and Cynthia’s feud over Cynthia’s promotion. However, Jessie also has a dark side: when she’s drunk, she taunts Stan for being a “gimp” and joins Tracey in hurling racial slurs at Oscar, the bar’s Colombian American busboy. When the play flashes forward to 2008, Olstead’s has closed, and it’s never revealed what’s become of Jessie since. This lack of closure perhaps implies that people like Jessie—a blue-collar laborer who succumbs to stagnancy, despair, and addiction—unfortunately tend to end up forgotten by the companies they serve, by the American public, and even by their own loved ones.
Jessie Quotes in Sweat
The Sweat quotes below are all either spoken by Jessie or refer to Jessie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2, Scene 3
Quotes
CYNTHIA: I’ve stood on that line, same line since I was nineteen. I’ve taken orders from idiots who were dangerous, or even worse, racist. But I stood on line, patiently waiting for a break. I don’t think you get it, but if I walk away, I’m giving up more than a job, I’m giving up all that time I spent standing on line waiting for one damn opportunity.
TRACEY: You want us to feel sorry for you?
CYNTHIA: …I didn’t expect you to understand, babe. You don’t know what it’s been like to walk in my shoes. I’ve absorbed a lotta shit over the years, but I worked hard to get off that floor. Call me selfish, I don’t care, call me whatever you need to call me, but remember, one of us has to be left standing to fight.
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Act 2, Scene 6
Quotes
JASON: […] Eleven dollars an hour? No thank you. They’ll work us down to nothing if we let ‘em. “Jacking ain’t for softies!” But they know they can always find somebody willing to get their hands sweaty. And they’re right. There will always be someone who’ll step in, unless we say NO!
STAN: Look. Olstead is a prick. If he was here I wouldn’t stop you. In fact I’d hold him down for you to give him a proper beating, but Oscar…he’s another story.
[…]
JASON: […] All I’m saying is that he needs to understand the price of that dinner he’s putting on his table.
STAN (Shouts): What the fuck do you want him to do? Huh? It ain’t his fault. Talk to Olstead, his cronies. Fucking Wall Street. Oscar ain’t getting rich off your misery.
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Get the entire Sweat LitChart as a printable PDF.
Jessie Quotes in Sweat
The Sweat quotes below are all either spoken by Jessie or refer to Jessie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2, Scene 3
Quotes
CYNTHIA: I’ve stood on that line, same line since I was nineteen. I’ve taken orders from idiots who were dangerous, or even worse, racist. But I stood on line, patiently waiting for a break. I don’t think you get it, but if I walk away, I’m giving up more than a job, I’m giving up all that time I spent standing on line waiting for one damn opportunity.
TRACEY: You want us to feel sorry for you?
CYNTHIA: …I didn’t expect you to understand, babe. You don’t know what it’s been like to walk in my shoes. I’ve absorbed a lotta shit over the years, but I worked hard to get off that floor. Call me selfish, I don’t care, call me whatever you need to call me, but remember, one of us has to be left standing to fight.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 6
Quotes
JASON: […] Eleven dollars an hour? No thank you. They’ll work us down to nothing if we let ‘em. “Jacking ain’t for softies!” But they know they can always find somebody willing to get their hands sweaty. And they’re right. There will always be someone who’ll step in, unless we say NO!
STAN: Look. Olstead is a prick. If he was here I wouldn’t stop you. In fact I’d hold him down for you to give him a proper beating, but Oscar…he’s another story.
[…]
JASON: […] All I’m saying is that he needs to understand the price of that dinner he’s putting on his table.
STAN (Shouts): What the fuck do you want him to do? Huh? It ain’t his fault. Talk to Olstead, his cronies. Fucking Wall Street. Oscar ain’t getting rich off your misery.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
