How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #10
"Under the stars," [Kismine] repeated. "I never noticed the stars before. I always thought of them as great big diamonds that belonged to some one. Now they frighten me. They make me feel that it was all a dream, all my youth."
"It was a dream," said John quietly. "Everybody's youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness." (11.27-28)
Again it is hinted to us that "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" is as much an allegory of youth as it is of wealth or religion or of America's history. "Chemical madness" is indeed an apt description of the sensory overload John experienced at the Washington estate, which is not dissimilar from the flush of first love.