Identity Quotes in The Danish Girl

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

It was June, and a month had passed since Einar had decided, on the bench in the park, that his and Lili's lives would have to part. (15.2)

At the park in Paris Einar makes a crucial decision to completely do away with half his personality and move on only as Lili. He has to make this mental division first before he can go forward with the physical separation.

Quote #8

Einar sat back in his seat and watched his reflection in the window. As the evening moved in quickly, the reflection grew more shadowy and angled, so that by dusk he didn't recognized his face in the glass. Then the reflection disappeared, and outside lay nothing but the distant twinkle of a pork village, and Einar was sitting in the dark. (19.12)

This is wonderful imagery from the author, David Ebershoff, equating Einar's reflection with the identity of Einar. He is traveling to Dresden to undergo surgery and become Lili forever, so he—and us, the readers—slowly watch his reflection fade into darkness. Is that a bad sign?

Quote #9

"Elbe. Lili Elbe." (21.75)

Here is Lili's "Bond; James Bond" moment. It's also the moment when she becomes entirely Lili in her mind, marking the occasion by adding on a last name for the first time.