Appearances Quotes in The Danish Girl

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Lili left Hans on the steps of the police station, turning three corners immediately, running away from him […] the stain on her dress spreading as persistently, as appallingly, as a disease. (9.95)

Lili's bleeding is a medical problem, but the stains it leaves are an external parallel of her internal feelings. She is hurting inside, agonizingly torn between two possibilities.

Quote #5

"What would you think if I were to tell you to stop dressing as her?" (11.40)

One of the doctors Einar sees thinks that a man in woman's clothes—even if that man identifies as a woman and everyone else thinks of him as a woman when he's in those clothes—would be damaging to the fabric of society. That doctor is a bit of a quack.

Quote #6

And so Einar would set out from the ladies' pool in Lili's clothes, with the rubber bathing cap still on his head. (13.19)

In Paris, Einar dresses like Lili even when he doesn't feel like Lili. It's interesting that Einar can appear as Lili even when he's Einar—he and Lili have a complex dual identity.