Editing Never on Sunday (section)

==Plot==
Self-employed [[Prostitution|prostitute]] and free spirit Ilya, in the port city of [[Piraeus]], [[Greece]], has a dedicated following of preferred “clients” whom she entertains at weekly receptions on Sundays, a day she takes off from “business.” At the [[shipyard]], when Ilya impulsively strips off her clothes to dive in for a dip in the ocean in her underwear, she challenges the “slaves” to join her, and many workers enthusiastically dive in. On his first day, Tonio, a half-[[Italians|Italian]] worker, becomes infatuated with the beautiful Ilya. He learns that popular Ilya “sets no prices and only goes with a client if she likes him.” When Tonio asks Ilya if he has a chance with her that evening, Ilya teases him, saying she will be busy with the baker, the fruit man, and the butcher. Tonio becomes determined to win over Ilya exclusively for himself.

Homer Thrace, an [[American ancestry|American]] [[scholar]] of [[Ancient Greek|classical Hellenic]] culture, believes that Ilya personifies how Greek culture decayed due to living by [[Stoicism|Stoic]] and [[Epicureanism|Epicurean]] philosophies. According to [[Socrates]], [[Plato]], and [[Aristotle]], as Homer believes, the great happiness is the joy of understanding. By contrast, Ilya sees life through her own [[Idiosyncrasy|idiosyncratic]] perspective, filtering out the negative. When Homer accompanies Ilya to see a performance of the [[Medea (play)|classical drama ''Medea'']], Ilya sees [[Medea]] as a caring mother and wife who tricks her husband to win him back from a rival. Ilya refuses to accept that Medea is a ruthless wife who kills her own children to take revenge on her husband. Homer finds Ilya’s relentlessly upbeat perspective incomprehensible. Despite Ilya’s clients urging Homer to leave Ilya as she is, Homer sees himself as [[Pygmalion (mythology)|Pygmalion]], determined to mold Ilya into [[Galatea (mythology)|Galatea]], reforming the prostitute to a happy moral life.

“Noface”, whose naked face behind large sunglasses no one ever sees, owns apartment houses where prostitutes pay him high “rents” to work. The prostitutes threaten to [[Strike action|strike]] unless Noface lowers the rents. Noface considers the independent Ilya a bad example. Despo, leader of the striking prostitutes, appeals to Ilya, who has influence, to encourage all the prostitutes to stop working to join the strike. Noface offers to finance Homer’s experiment to reform Ilya, suggesting Homer “buy” Ilya’s time. Since they both have the same goal of putting Ilya out of business, though for different reasons, Homer accepts the money from Noface. To this end, Homer proposes to Ilya to conduct a two-week experiment, offering to pay her for her exclusive time to give her lessons in classical subjects and culture.

Ilya attempts to please Homer by studying the books and listening to the records he gives her but is bored. Meanwhile Ilya’s clients, including Tonio, are disgruntled when denied her services. When Ilya hears the whistle of a ship arriving, she is unhappy that she must study rather than party with the sailors.

At the end of the two-week period, when Noface pays Homer for his expenses, Despo sees the transaction and immediately informs Ilya. Ilya reacts by leading the other prostitutes in their strike against Noface, refusing to work and throwing their headboards and mattresses out the windows. The prostitutes are arrested, but Noface’s lawyer pays their fines and negotiates with Ilya to reduce the rents by 50%. Tonio and his friends arrive to get Ilya, taking her to their local bar, where typically, Homer is in trouble because the [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/know-it-all know-it-all] has told the guitar player that he is not a real musician if he cannot [[Musical notation|read music]].

Homer tells Ilya that she’s beautiful but dumb, and he laments that he wanted to save her. Tonio replies, "Ilya is not a [[symbol]], she’s a woman." Homer tells Ilya that indeed he wanted to make love to her but restrained himself. Tonio declares its “too late” because he is going to take Ilya back to [[Italy]] for a new life, sweeping Ilya off her feet and carrying her away. The bar owner tells Homer, “If anyone will save Ilya, it will be Tonio…because with love, it’s possible.”

Homer boards a ship back to the US, throwing away his notes.

"And they all go to the seashore!"