How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Scene.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a big long monologue.
Quote #13
"Mother, you mustn’t expect too much of Laura."
"What do you mean?"
"Laura seems all those things to you and me because she’s ours and we love her. We don’t even notice she’s crippled anymore." (5.120-5.122, Tom and Amanda).
Tom is more aware of Laura’s nature than Amanda.
Quote #14
"Laura is very different from other girls."
[…]
"…in the eyes of others—strangers—she’s terribly shy and lives in a world of her own and those things make her seem a little peculiar to people outside the house."
[…]
"She lives in a world of her own—a world of little glass ornaments, Mother…She plays old phonograph records and—that’s about all—" (5.126, 5.128, 5.132, Tom).
Tom understands that Laura uses the glass and the Victrola to escape from the world, but never is able to explicitly connect that he and his sister are doing the same thing.
Quote #15
"I knew that Jim and Laura had known each other at Soldan, and I had heard Laura speak admiringly of his voice. I didn’t know if Jim remembered her or not. In high school Laura had been as unobtrusive as Jim had been astonishing." (6.1, Tom).
Jim presents a character with the opposite of Laura’s fragility, which may be why she is so drawn to him.