The Price of Salt, or Carol Chapter 12 Quotes
The Price of Salt, or Carol Chapter 12 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 4
She envied [Richard]. She envied him his faith there would always be a place, a home, a job, someone else for him. She envied him that attitude. She almost resented his having it. (12.143)
This attitude isn't just toward Richard; it's toward all heterosexual people, who enjoy a security and complacency that a homosexual will never have in 1950's America.
Quote 5
She hated it. Two of the most boring people she had ever met, a shoe clerk and a secretary, and she knew Richard meant to show her an idea life in theirs, to remind her that they might live together the same way one day. (12.60)
Therese knows that if she marries Richard, and perhaps any man, she has a lifetime of one disappointment after another in front of her. Carol probably felt the same way with Harge, but she gritted her teeth and went through with it anyway. The constant disappointment made her the slightly cold woman she is in the book.
Quote 6
"I still don't want to go to the concert," she said. (12.141)
Therese has no qualms about letting Richard down, which is a quality we admire in her. She knows she would rather be by herself than be with him, so she says this to avoid setting either of them up for disappointment.