Kerry's Wednesday Challenge ~ Internal Monologue

The Bus ~ Frida Kahlo (1929)
Wikipaintings.org  (Creative Commons)

There is an old joke that goes something like: "I talk to myself because its the best conversation I get all day!"
Internal Monologue, also known as inner voice, internal speech, or verbal stream of consciousness is thinking in words. It also refers to the semi-constant internal monologue one has with oneself at a conscious or semi-conscious level. Writers have made use of this device in order to allow the audience or reader to enter into the thought-pattern of their characters. It's how we get to know them better, and form an emotional connection with them, as fictitious as they may be.

Let's take Hamlet's famous soliloquy from Act 3, scene 1:

                    To be, or not to be, that is the question:

                    Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer

                    The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,

                    Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,

                    And by opposing end them...

... but, no, we are not going Shakespearean today.  I would rather you read the following poem instead.

Theatre Farce ~ Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin
Wikipaintings.org  (Creative Commons)

At the Theatre
To the Lady Behind Me
A.P. Herbert


Dear Madam, you have seen this play;
I never saw it till today.
You know the details of the plot,
But, let me tell you, I do not.
The author seeks to keep from me
The murderer's identity,
And you are not a friend of his
If you keep shouting who it is.
The actors in their funny way
Have several funny things to say,
But they do not amuse me more
If you have said them just before;
The merit of the drama lies,
I understand, in some surprise;
But the surprise must now be small
Since you have just foretold it all.
The lady you have brought with you
Is, I infer, a half-wit too,
But I can understand the piece
Without assistance from your niece.
In short, foul woman, it would suit
Me just as well if you were mute;
In fact, to make my meaning plain,
I trust you will not speak again.
And—-may I add one human touch?—-
Don't breathe upon my neck so much.


This is, perhaps, one internal monologue which was externalized by the height of frustration but it serves as an example of the direction I wish us to pursue. Allow your character to express his or her innermost thoughts, private rants, pet hates or passionate discourses incurred by close proximity to an irritating stranger: the mother who allows her child to throw a temper tantrum in the checkout queue, the motorist who is driving like a moron in rush hour traffic, the teenage couple getting hot 'n heavy in a public park or the kind of "neck-breather" who most gets on your nerves.

The Old Man and the Old Woman ~ Marc Chagall (1915)
Wikipaintings.org  (Creative Commons)

The end result should be a piece of writing which reveals both the character of the speaker, as well as that of the one who has caused the internal monologue.  Have fun with this one - I'm sure it will be rather liberating to  have the opportunity to verbalize our (or our persona's) complaints.