Here We Are Language and Communication Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)

Quote #4

"Listen, honey," he said, "I never should have said that. How does anybody know what kind of crazy things come into their heads when they're standing there waiting to get married? I was just telling you that because it was so kind of crazy. I thought it would make you laugh." (70)

The fact that the husband thought this would make his wife laugh demonstrates his general cluelessness. His wife thinks he said it with "malice and forethought"—but it really does seem to just be a product of his own obliviousness/mild insensitivity.

Quote #5

"Is there anything special you want to do tonight?"

"What?" she said.

"What I mean to say," he said, "would you like to go to a show or something?"

"Why, whatever you like," she said. "I sort of didn't think people went to theaters and things on their—I mean, I've got a couple of letters I simply must write. Don't let me forget."

"Oh," he said. "You're going to write letters tonight?" (78-82)

The wife wasn't expecting her husband to want to go to a show—since her "I mean" shows that she was assuming they would have sex. Confused, she throws out her own silly suggestion, throwing the husband off balance and showing that he was still assuming they would consummate the marriage (of course).

Quote #6

"There was a silence with things going on in it." (97)

This is the narrator's voice suddenly re-entering the story after a long absence. It's kind of cryptic: what exactly is going on in the silence? Probably just the fevered mechanics of their own sexually inexperienced minds, to be honest.