A History of Violence Monologues

A mild-mannered man becomes a local hero through an act of violence, which sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core.

You always were a problem for me, Joey. When mom brought you home from the hospital, I tried to strangle you in your crib. I guess all kids try to do that. She caught me, whacked the daylights out of me.

Hey, Bro-heem. You're still pretty good with the killing. That's exciting.

Yeah, it's Richie. What do you say, Joey? Are you going to come see me? Or do I have to come see you?

What am I gonna do? You bust up a made man's place. You killed some of his guys. You take his eye. Jesus, Joey… you nearly took out his left eye. Barbed wire, wasn't it? That's disgusting. You always were the crazy one.

Yeah, I heard. You're living the American Dream. You really bought into it, didn't you? You've been this other guy, almost as long as you've been yourself. Hey, when you dream, are you still Joey?

And yet here you sit... big as life. You know you cost me a lot of time and money. Before you pulled that shit with Fogarty, I was a shoe-in to take over when the boss croaked. A shoe-in. It was made very clear to me, Joey. I had to clean up your mess, or nothing was ever gonna happen for me! You got no idea how much shit I had to pull to get back in with those guys. You cost me! A hell of a lot, Joey. A hell of a lot!

Yeah, I am, I am. I'm still behind the eight-ball... because of you. There's a certain lack of respect, a certain lack of trust. The boys in Boston are just waitin' for me to go down.

Does it work for you? I can't see it working for me. I never got the urge, you know? A lot of great-looking women in the world. I never met one made me wanna give up all the others.

No? Fogarty thought you lived on some kind of farm. He said you could smell pig. How that old fart would know what a pig smells like, I don't know, but that's what he said.

What are you going to do, give him mouth-to-mouth? Did you see my brother? Fuckin' leave this and let's just kill that little fuck!

Can you believe that place is still standing, 'The Track and Turf'? Didn't you bang Jill Levy there right on the bar in front of everybody?