For my assignment i need to interpret the stage directions from the night thoreau spent in jail, starting from "i may not be there at the pond place," to the end. the issue is, someone already checked it out of my library and i don't have access to the book. if anyone who has this book could give me the parts i need i would be so appreciative. ( :

first things first: the playwright rarely, if ever, writes the stage directions found in published scripts. it is common practice for publishers to hire the stage manager of the original production to create descriptions of the action to readers better comprehend the play.

i have that page of the script in front of me (although it's page 109 in my edition) and there are no stage directions - the line you quote is the first line of a dialogue between henry and bailey. are you referring to the stage directions preceding that line?

there is only one way to "interpret" this dialogue as henry has clearly made a decision: he's going to take a new path, different from the one he has been following. bailey (a less literate character) refers to walden as "your pond place" and henry quotes him, the playwright putting "pond place" in quotation marks to show the relationship between the two lines.

when this dialogue begins the play has ended - the remaining dialogue is an epilogue designed to tell us that henry's story is not over, that his live will continue. it is, after all, the morning following the night that is the title of the play. had they intended otherwise, i'm sure lawrence and lee would have titled the play, "the night thoreau spent in jail and the morning after".

in the quotation from passage, connie willis states that literature is a way for authors from the past to communicate with readers of today. we can read their stories, books, and other texts to learn lessons about life. willis refers to these lessons as messages “from beyond the grave.” willis has a favorable viewpoint about the timelessness of literature.