quotes on duty Flashcards
quote on duty(pale delicacies)
‘The persons of their world lived in an atmosphere of faint implications and pale delicacies, and the fact that he and she understood each other without a word seemed to the young man to bring them nearer than any explanation would have done.’(chapter 2)
Archer’s duty to protect his fiancé’s family’s good name is implicitly understood by everyone. They don’t even have to talk about it; they just know.
quote on duty(New York ritual)
‘In the course of the next day the first of the usual betrothal visits were exchanged. The New York ritual was precise and inflexible in such matters’ (chapter 4)
quote on duty (bombshell)
“I hear she means to get a divorce,” said Janey blindly.
“I hope she will!” Archer exclaimed.
The word had fallen like a bombshell in the pure and tranquil atmosphere of the Archer dining room. (chapter 5)
Marriage is a duty that is unquestioned in New York society, so the word “divorce” has about the same effect as uttering an obscenity. Maybe they called it the ‘d-word.’
quote on duty (golden hands)
”[…] But you knew; you understood; you had felt the world outside tugging at one with all its golden hands— and yet you hated the things it asks of one; you hated happiness bought by disloyalty and cruelty and indifference. […]” (chapter 18 Ellen Olenska)
So, yes, there are a lot of duties that seem ridiculous (like all those bridal visits). But the duty to not hurt a human being, the duty to keep your promises, the duty to care about your family— these are all good things, no?
quote on duty (unabashed sincerity)
‘It was the perfect balance she had held between their loyalty to others and their honesty to themselves that had so stirred and yet tranquilized him; a balance not artfully calculated, as her tears and her faltering showed, but resulting naturally from her unabashed sincerity.’ (25.2)
Archer and Ellen try to find compromises that allow them to have their cake and eat it too— to fulfill their duty and to maintain their relationship at the same time. Ultimately, both realize that there are no such compromises.
quote on duty (armed camp)
As these thoughts succeeded each other in his mind, Archer felt like a prisoner in the center of an armed camp […] a deathly sense of the superiority of implication and analogy over direct action, and of silence over rash words, closed in on him like the doors of the family vault. (chapter 33)
Archer finds it difficult to sacrifice his love when he feels all of his social duties keep him a prisoner.
quote on duty(young people)
“The difference is that these young people take it for granted that they’re going to get whatever they want (chapter 34)
