Don't Go Away Mad
William Saroyan
The Slaughter of the Innocents
by William Saroyan
Synopsis
This is unmistakably Saroyan, with his sentimental yet probing concern for people as human beings; it is Saroyan at his most intelligent and most meaningful.
The story is that of a bartender whose saloon has been confiscated to be used for public trials by the new police state.
Juries have been dispensed with; the victims are marched in on an assembly line, accused, sentenced, then marched out through the back door to be shot while the populace cheers in wild enthusiasm.
When a small boy is run through in this fashion, the bartender rebels, throwing a large monkey wrench into the smoothly running mechanism.
Then comes the directive: the six officials are to change places with the next six victims.
Thus it is that the people come to a realization of the meaning of justice in a democracy.
Publication
The Slaughter of the Innocents is a play written by William Saroyan and published by Samuel French .
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