How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Perhaps everybody has a Garden of Eden, I don't know; but they have scarcely seen their garden before they see the flaming sword. Then, perhaps, life only offers the choice of remembering the garden or forgetting it. Either, or; it takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both. People who remember court madness through pain, the pain of the perpetually recurring death of their innocence; people who forget court another kind of madness, the madness of the denial of pain and the hatred of innocence; and the world is mostly divided between madmen who remember and madmen who forget. Heroes are rare. (1.2.19)
In what sense does David speak of the "Garden of Eden" here? Is it the Biblical garden? Is it something that is real or only imagined? In what ways does the "Garden of Eden" relate to innocence? Is anyone ever really entirely innocent? Entirely experienced?
Quote #5
But I knew I could not open the door, I knew it was too late; soon it was too late to do anything but moan. He pulled me against him, putting himself into my arms as though he were giving me himself to carry, and slowly pulled me down with him to that bed. With everything in me screaming No! yet the sum of me sighed Yes. (1.3.138)
Why is everything in David screaming No? David hasn't once resisted the advances of Giovanni. How is it possible for him to deny the fact that he is attracted to Giovanni when all of his behavior confirms the opposite? Is there a right choice here? Should he listen to his body or his mind?
Quote #6
Giovanni liked to believe that he was hard-headed and that I was not and that he was teaching me the stony facts of life. It was very important for him to feel this: it was because he knew, unwillingly, at the very bottom of his heart, that I helplessly, at the very bottom of mine, resisted him with all my strength. (2.1.52)
Does Giovanni know that David is resisting him? Is it easy to tell, from David's behavior, that he is resisting Giovanni? What would happen if they put the resistance straight out on the table and discussed it? Is such a move even possible given the extent of David's repression?