How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Then he realized that Christine must, unconsciously, be quoting her boyfriend, or some horrible book lent by her boyfriend […]. It was queer how much colour women seemed to absorb from their men-friends, or even from the man they were with for the time being. That was only bad when the man in question was bad; it was good when the man was good. (14.80)
How about this option—a woman can think for herself?
Quote #11
More than ever he felt secure; here, he was able to fulfill his role. (14.130)
We can't help but think that Jim's behavior in the taxi with Christine has a kind of patronizing quality to it. After she pours her heart out to him about her problems with men and her lack of self-confidence, he delivers a long lecture, really uncharacteristic of him, about life and love. He feels pretty good about himself after he's finished and Christine falls asleep on his shoulder.
His "role", as far as we can tell, had been to set Christine straight about how she should think about love and about her relationship with Bertrand. We think the entire taxi conversation has a condescending quality. It reminds us of what Jim said earlier about women being easily "coloured" by the men they spend time with, and that it was OK as long as the men were good men. After this conversation, Christine becomes compliant and receptive to Jim's romantic advances. Christine is treated as an impressionable child in this novel. It may seem that she finally throws off her domination by Bertrand, but really she just transfers it to Jim.
Quote #12
Dixon smiled uncertainly. What a pity it was, he thought, that she wasn't better looking, that she didn't read the articles in the three-halfpenny press that told you which colour lipstick went with which natural colouring. With twenty percent more of what she lacked in these ways, she'd never run into any of her appalling difficulties […]. (16.62)
Jim expresses the opinion that in order to be happy, a woman has to make the most of her appearance. Is he being sexist or just realistic? Maybe this was truer in the 1950s than it is today, but we still think it puts the burden on the woman. He could have said that the world needed more men who could see past a woman's appearance.