3 Select the correct answer
What can you infer about Robert's character?
Beyond the Horizon
by Eugene O'Neill (excerpt)
ROBERT: (musingly) So I used to stare out over the fields to the hills out there-(He points to
the horizon) and somehow after a time I'd forget any pain I was in, and start dreaming. I
knew the sea was over beyond those hills. ---the folks had told me-and I used to wonder
what the sea was like, and try to form a picture of it in my mind. (With a smile) There was all
the mystery in the world to me then about that-far-off sea--and there still is! It called to me
then just as it does now. (After a slight pause) And other times my eyes would follow this
road winding off into the distance toward the hills, as if it, too, was searching for the sea.
And I'd promise myself that when I grew up and was strong, I'd follow that road, and it and I
would find the sea together. (With a smile) You see, my making this trip is only keeping that
promise of long ago.
RUTH: (charmed by his low. musical voice telling the dreams of his childhood) Yes, I see.
ROBERT: Those were the only happy moments of my life then, dreaming there at the
window. I liked to be all alone-those times. I got to know all the different kinds of sunsets by
heart. And all those sunsets took place over there—(He points) beyond the horizon. So
gradually I came to believe that all the wonders of the world happened on the other side of
those hills. There was the home of the good fairies who performed beautiful miracles. I
believed in fairies then. (With a smile) Perhaps I still do believe in them. Anyway, in those
days they were real enough, and sometimes I could actually hear them calling to me to come
out and play with them, dance with them down the road in the dusk in a game of
hide-and-seek to find out where the sun was hiding himself. They sang their little songs to
me songs that told of all the wonderful things they had in their home on the other side of
the hills: and they promised to show me all of them, if I'd only come, come! But I couldn't
come then, and I used to cry sometimes and Ma would think I was in pain. (He breaks off
suddenly with a laugh) That's why I'm going now. I suppose. For I can still hear them calling
But the horizon is as far away and as luring as ever. (He turns to her-softly) Do you
understand now. Ruth?
OA. Robert wishes to travel and seek adventure.
OB. Robert often wrote imaginative stories as a child.
OC. Robert often had conflicts with his parents as a child.
OD. Robert wishes that he lived closer to the sea.