How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
In the lovers' postures he could see the abandon typical of those who have known each other for a long time. What he was looking at did not at all resemble an erotic summer idyll, as he had supposed, but rather a marriage of body and soul. (6.50)
Though, as far as we can tell, Blanca and Pedro Tercero are never legally wed, they're far more intimate with one another than Esteban and Clara, or than Blanca will ever be with Jean de Satigny.
Quote #5
Clara never spoke to her husband again. She stopped using her married name and removed the fine gold wedding ring that he had placed on her finger twenty years before… (6.64)
Even though Clara and Esteban Trueba remain legally married, for all practical purposes they're divorced. The legal status of relationships in this novel doesn't seem to matter as much as emotional connectedness and communication.
Quote #6
Clara was very happy to be living with her sons and was determined to establish a friendly relationship with them. She had had very little contact with them when they were small, and in her haste to see them "become men," she had lost the best hours with her sons and been forced to keep all her tender feelings to herself. (7.7)
Mothers and daughters tend to have stronger relationships in this novel than mothers and sons (or fathers and sons, for that matter). In fact, the social injunction to raise young boys to "become men" might be the reason we see so many male characters that have trouble expressing their emotions and forming intimate relationships with other people.