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AMY KASS: Why do you think he’s not named?
WILLIAM SCHAMBRA: Yeah, it’s an odd circumstance. Because even his friend Bud who advised him
on the one piece of equipment the regrets not having- namely a nose guard that would
have protected his cheek…even Bud is named. And of course “bud”, “buddy” goes
back to this sort of fraternal gathering here. Yeah..it’s..it’s…this is, no man, or
he’s every man. This is the Ameri…This is a type of human being. And to give it a
name, to give him a name, would be to pin it down, I think.
AMY KASS: Bill suggested two things. And I think the fact that he’s constantly no-name
man, “the man”, suggests both that he’s nobody- literally nobody- and his death palpably
shows us that. He’s not buried by anybody. He freezes to death by himself.
AMY KASS: But on the other hand, he is every American. He’s got all of the quintessential
virtues and vices that are American.
LEON KASS: Let me embrace both of those and add a third thing which cuts a slightly different
direction. This man is not governed by the desire to make a name for himself. In other
words, he’s not moved by honor. He’s moved by gain.
WILLIAM SCHAMBRA: A commercial man doesn’t leave his name on things until he becomes
philanthropic man.