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Meg Boles
Meg’s husband, and the co-proprietor of the boarding house in which Stanley lives. Petey is an affable man whose presence is rather minor in his own home, since he spends most of his time working at the nearby beach, where he puts out chairs for the public. Attuned to his wife’s eccentricities, Petey has no problem indulging Meg’s obsession with order and routine. When, for example, she talks about the same topics every morning, he simply goes along, agreeing that Stanley should come downstairs so that he isn’t late for breakfast. In fact, he even has this conversation with Meg at the end of the play, when Stanley is no longer in the house because McCann and Goldberg have taken him away. Despite the fact that he’s not very present, Petey is perhaps the only character in The Birthday Party who worries about Stanley after McCann and Goldberg psychologically torment him. In fact, he’s the only person who notices a change in Stanley at all, as made evident by the fact that he tries to stand up for him and, when this fails, yells, “Stan, don’t let them tell you what to do!”
Petey Boles Quotes in The Birthday Party
The The Birthday Party quotes below are all either spoken by Petey Boles or refer to Petey Boles. 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 One
Quotes
MEG. […] I’m going to call that boy.
PETEY. Didn’t you take him up his cup of tea?
MEG. I always take him up his cup of tea. But that was a long time ago.
PETEY. Did he drink it?
MEG. I made him. I stood there till he did. I’m going to call him.
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MEG. What are the cornflakes like, Stan?
STANLEY. Horrible.
MEG. Those flakes? Those lovely flakes? You’re a liar, a little liar. They’re refreshing. It says so. For people when they get up late.
STANLEY. The milk’s off.
MEG. It’s not. Petey ate his, didn’t you, Petey?
PETEY. That’s right.
MEG. There you are then.
STANLEY. (Pushes away his plate.) All right, I’ll go on to the second course.
MEG. He hasn’t finished the first course and he wants to go on to the second course!
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Act Three
Quotes
Well, Mr. Boles, it can happen in all sorts of ways. A friend of mine was telling me about it only the other day. We’d both been concerned with another case—not entirely similar, of course, but…quite alike, quite alike. (He pauses. Crosses to the window seat.) Anyway, he was telling me, you see, this friend of mine, that sometimes it happens gradual—day by day it grows and grows and grows…day by day. And then other times it happens all at once. Poof! Like that! The nerves break. There’s no guarantee how it’s going to happen. But with certain people…it’s a foregone conclusion.
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Petey Boles Quotes in The Birthday Party
The The Birthday Party quotes below are all either spoken by Petey Boles or refer to Petey Boles. 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 One
Quotes
MEG. […] I’m going to call that boy.
PETEY. Didn’t you take him up his cup of tea?
MEG. I always take him up his cup of tea. But that was a long time ago.
PETEY. Did he drink it?
MEG. I made him. I stood there till he did. I’m going to call him.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
MEG. What are the cornflakes like, Stan?
STANLEY. Horrible.
MEG. Those flakes? Those lovely flakes? You’re a liar, a little liar. They’re refreshing. It says so. For people when they get up late.
STANLEY. The milk’s off.
MEG. It’s not. Petey ate his, didn’t you, Petey?
PETEY. That’s right.
MEG. There you are then.
STANLEY. (Pushes away his plate.) All right, I’ll go on to the second course.
MEG. He hasn’t finished the first course and he wants to go on to the second course!
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Act Three
Quotes
Well, Mr. Boles, it can happen in all sorts of ways. A friend of mine was telling me about it only the other day. We’d both been concerned with another case—not entirely similar, of course, but…quite alike, quite alike. (He pauses. Crosses to the window seat.) Anyway, he was telling me, you see, this friend of mine, that sometimes it happens gradual—day by day it grows and grows and grows…day by day. And then other times it happens all at once. Poof! Like that! The nerves break. There’s no guarantee how it’s going to happen. But with certain people…it’s a foregone conclusion.
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