Emile agrees and they set off to tell Captain Brackett that they will be doing the mission after all. He asks Emile if he would reconsider going on the spy mission with him, now that he has nothing to risk losing. The song is very sad and the music magnifies that emotion of sadness to a higher degree.Īfter Emile has finished singing, Joe sees the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. He remembers things like kisses, and time spent with her but realizes that these things will be no more. He poetically sings of how Nellie flew into his heart, only to fly away. He sings of having one love, one girl, one dream, and each of those things would be in his paradise, which he nearly had. The song he sings is about things lost and giving up hope of ever being happy again. It is at this point that he adds his voice to the music that has been going on under the dialogue, singing “This Nearly Was Mine”, a love song that shows how much Nellie’s refusing marriage has affected him. Emile agrees with him that if all you care about is right there on that spot, then it is a good place to be, but if what you care about is gone, there is no place to be. Joe alludes to the fact that he will probably marry Liat after all by saying that all he cares about is on the island and so he plans to stay there. He sings that it is the fault of “a MEAN little world of MEAN little men (II,iii).” He sings that he will hold on to this island “and be free – and alone(II,iii).” It is this part of the song that offers a perfect segue into Emile’s next song, “This Nearly Was Mine.” He sings of being cheated in the past and being cheated out of love again. Joe, feeling better, sits down and listens to Emile begin to speak.Įmile tells Joe that it was the prejudice that he had been running away from and it was the prejudice that had found him again. He realizes that he actually does not feel these things at all and the ideas that have been planted in his head can be as easily uprooted as they were planted. He sees that if nobody had even spoken against other races or people that were different, he would have no problem with marrying Liat. Joe realizes that there would be no prejudices in the world if nobody were to teach it to the children. You’ve got to be taught to be afraid of people who’s eyes are oddly made, And people who’s skin is a different shade – You’ve got to be carefully taught! …To HATE all the people your relatives hate – You’ve got to be carefully taught! (II,iii) The words that Joe sing tell the audience that he realizes that prejudices aren’t born within someone, but taught to them. The music is slightly upbeat, which helps to illustrate that by singing this song, he is beginning to feel better. Joe, giving him the product of his thoughts, tells him “It’s not born in you.” It is at this point that Joe Cable begins singing “Carefully Taught,” a character song in which Joe is able to vent his frustrations and anger about his own prejudices. Emile is left with Joe, who is thinking over his own relationship with Liat.Įmile asks him why he and Nellie think that these prejudices are born in them. Emile tells her that it is not born in her, that it cannot be born in her. She looks to Cable for help in describing what she feels, but he offers no help. It isn’t as if I could give you a good reason. In act 2, scene 3, Nellie reveals her prejudices to Emile. It is these prejudices that set the stage for what might be the most significant scene in the production. Both Nellie and Joe Cable have a hard time coping with their own racial prejudices Joe loves Liat, yet cannot marry her because she is Tonkinese Nellie loves Emile, but cannot marry him because of his former Polynesian wife. Joe Cable and Liat, are faced with the same dilemma. The two main characters, Emile de Becque and Nellie Forbush are faced with these problems as they attempt a relationship. In Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, the main theme is racial prejudices.
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