Whales and Men (n.d.)
Whales and Men is a screenplay written, apparently, based on internal evidence, in the mid-to-late 1980s, a decade during which McCarthy wrote a number of screenplays for film, none of which has yet been produced. In this case it is easy to recognize why, since the script emphasizes dialogue over action and can, in fact, be appreciated more as a philosophical statement of beliefs than a visual narrative. Nonetheless, the work serves as a précis of exactly those concerns that McCarthy also explores in The Stonemason and in much deeper and extensive terms in later novels, especially The Crossing. Although the screenplay has never been published and is not readily available, a copy can be found in the Cormac McCarthy papers housed in the Southwestern Writers Collection of the Albert B. Alkek Library at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos.
The principal characters in Whales and Men are Guy Schuler, a marine biologist; John Western, a wealthy explorer and sportsman; his girl friend Kelly Mc Amon; and his best friend Peter Gregory, an Irish aristocrat and playboy. Schuler, who seems based in part on McCarthy’s friend and noted cetologist Roger Payne, meets Western at an exclusive yacht and tennis club in Fort Lauderdale. Western invites him on a cruise with Kelly and Peter, during which time they discuss the nature of whales, especially their ability to communicate by sound over great distances (a main topic in Payne’s 1995 book Among Whales, in which he credits McCarthy’s influence and advice). Whales come to represent the unknowable in nature, perhaps even the sacred mystery that man senses but cannot comprehend.
In a middle act, this group accompanies Peter Gregory to his family manor in Ireland for Christmas. There the conversations continue, with emphasis now on the purpose and effect of language (a central topic in The Crossing) and the role of evil in the world. During this visit Peter admits to Guy that he is in love with Kelly and that John knows and accepts it.
In the third section or movement of the screenplay (set in 1984, the first date given), John takes his friends on another voyage, starting in Colombo, Sri Lanka. During this trip they come across a pod of blue whales, among whom they kayak and swim in ever-growing awe and rapture. Soon, however, a Japanese whaler appears and a slaughter commences. One baby whale survives and approaches the yacht; for several days Kelly attempts to keep it alive before sharks arrive and Schuyler convinces her that the decent act is to kill it before it suffers greater agony. This episode changes John, Kelly, and Peter. John, after descending almost into madness, returns to medical school and sets up a third-world outpost hospital; Kelly and Peter marry and have a child, and Peter takes his seat in the House of Lords, giving his maiden speech on the need to protect the world’s remaining whales, for their immediate sake and, ultimately, for ours.
The preceding précis is Copyright © 2003 by Edwin T. Arnold.
[For a more detailed discussion of this screenplay, see Arnold, “Whales and Men” in Cormac McCarthy: Uncharted Territories/Territoires Inconnus, ed. Christine Chollier, 2003]