AP Literature & Composition- Final Quote Analysis

"CREON What evils are not wrought by Anarchy! She ruins States, and overthrows the home, She dissipates and routs the embattled host; While discipline preserves the ordered ranks. Therefore we must maintain authority And yield to title to a woman's will. Better, if needs be, men should cast us out Than hear it said, a woman proved his match."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Creon attributes anarchy to women and feels strongly that a social structure favoring men must be maintained.

"ANTIGONE I urge no more; nay, wert thou willing still, I would not welcome such a fellowship. Go thine own way; myself will bury him. How sweet to die in such employ, to rest,-- Sister and brother linked in love's embrace-- A sinless sinner, banned awhile on earth, But by the dead commended; and with them I shall abide for ever. As for thee, Scorn, if thou wilt, the eternal laws of Heaven."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: determination Analysis: Antigone's enthusiastic determination to risk her life in order to bury her brother is suicidal in nature.

"ANTIGONE Would'st thou do more than slay thy prisoner? CREON Not I, thy life is mine, and that's enough. ANTIGONE Why dally then? To me no word of thine Is pleasant: God forbid it e'er should please; Nor am I more acceptable to thee. And yet how otherwise had I achieved A name so glorious as by burying A brother? so my townsmen all would say, Where they not gagged by terror, Manifold A king's prerogatives, and not the least That all his acts and all his words are law."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: determination Analysis: Antigone exhibits a self-destructive determination to sacrifice her life for principle.

"CREON Well, let her know the stubbornest of wills Are soonest bended, as the hardest iron, O'er-heated in the fire to brittleness, Flies soonest into fragments, shivered through. A snaffle curbs the fieriest steed, and he Who in subjection lives must needs be meek. But this proud girl, in insolence well-schooled, First overstepped the established law, and then-- A second and worse act of insolence-- She boasts and glories in her wickedness. Now if she thus can flout authority Unpunished, I am woman, she the man. But though she be my sister's child or nearer Of kin than all who worship at my hearth, Nor she nor yet her sister shall escape The utmost penalty, for both I hold, As arch-conspirators, of equal guilt. Bring forth the older; even now I saw her Within the palace, frenzied and distraught. The workings of the mind discover oft Dark deeds in darkness schemed, before the act. More hateful still the miscreant who seeks When caught, to make a virtue of a crime."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: determination Analysis: Blind to his own stubbornness, Creon attacks and punishes Antigone for denying his authority and for her unwillingness to submit to his will.

"CREON O cease, you vex me with your babblement; I am like to think you dote in your old age. Is it not arrant folly to pretend That gods would have a thought for this dead man? Did they forsooth award him special grace, And as some benefactor bury him, Who came to fire their hallowed sanctuaries, To sack their shrines, to desolate their land, And scout their ordinances? Or perchance The gods bestow their favors on the bad. No! no! I have long noted malcontents Who wagged their heads, and kicked against the yoke, Misliking these my orders, and my rule. 'Tis they, I warrant, who suborned my guards By bribes. Of evils current upon earth The worst is money. Money 'tis that sacks Cities, and drives men forth from hearth and home; Warps and seduces native innocence, And breeds a habit of dishonesty. But they who sold themselves shall find their greed Out-shot the mark, and rue it soon or late. Yea, as I still revere the dread of Zeus, By Zeus I swear, except ye find and bring Before my presence here the very man Who carried out this lawless burial, Death for your punishment shall not suffice. Hanged on a cross, alive ye first shall make Confession of this outrage. This will teach you What practices are like to serve your turn. There are some villainies that bring no gain. For by dishonesty the few may thrive, The many come to ruin and disgrace."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: determination Analysis: Creon's fierce determination to prosecute the burier of Polyneices will ultimately lead to the suicides of his wife, son, and niece. Like Oedipus, his determination causes death.

"ISMENE Bethink thee, sister, of our father's fate, Abhorred, dishonored, self-convinced of sin, Blinded, himself his executioner. Think of his mother-wife (ill sorted names) Done by a noose herself had twined to death And last, our hapless brethren in one day, Both in a mutual destiny involved, Self-slaughtered, both the slayer and the slain. Bethink thee, sister, we are left alone; Shall we not perish wretchedest of all, If in defiance of the law we cross A monarch's will?--weak women, think of that, Not framed by nature to contend with men. Remember this too that the stronger rules; We must obey his orders, these or worse. Therefore I plead compulsion and entreat The dead to pardon. I perforce obey The powers that be. 'Tis foolishness, I ween, To overstep in aught the golden mean."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: determination Analysis: While not heroic, Ismene's determination to survive reveals her sound reason and powerful instinct for self-preservation.

"CREON I know it too, and it perplexes me. To yield is grievous, but the obstinate soul That fights with Fate, is smitten grievously."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: fate and free will Analysis: Although Creon wants to resist, he knows better than to fight fate. He has learned from Oedipus's mistakes.

"ISMENE O sister, scorn me not, let me but share Thy work of piety, and with thee die. ANTIGONE Claim not a work in which thou hadst no hand; One death sufficeth. Wherefore should'st thou die? ISMENE What would life profit me bereft of thee? ANTIGONE Ask Creon, he's thy kinsman and best friend. ISMENE Why taunt me? Find'st thou pleasure in these gibes? ANTIGONE 'Tis a sad mockery, if indeed I mock. ISMENE O say if I can help thee even now. ANTIGONE No, save thyself; I grudge not thy escape. ISMENE Is e'en this boon denied, to share thy lot? ANTIGONE Yea, for thou chosed'st life, and I to die."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: fate and free will Analysis: Antigone chooses both her own destiny (death) and her sister's (life). She demonstrates that there is such a thing as free will, after all.

"ISMENE I scorn them not, but to defy the State Or break her ordinance I have no skill. ANTIGONE A specious pretext. I will go alone To lap my dearest brother in the grave. ISMENE My poor, fond sister, how I fear for thee! ANTIGONE O waste no fears on me; look to thyself."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: fate and free will Analysis: While Antigone feels empowered to impact her own destiny, Ismene does not.

"ANTIGONE (Str. 1) Friends, countrymen, my last farewell I make; My journey's done. One last fond, lingering, longing look I take At the bright sun. For Death who puts to sleep both young and old Hales my young life, And beckons me to Acheron's dark fold, An unwed wife. No youths have sung the marriage song for me, My bridal bed No maids have strewn with flowers from the lea, 'Tis Death I wed."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: morality Analysis: Antigone imagines death as a marriage, establishing yet another duality in the play.

"I would not welcome such a fellowship. Go thine own way; myself will bury him. How sweet to die in such employ, to rest,-- Sister and brother linked in love's embrace-- A sinless sinner, banned awhile on earth, But by the dead commended; and with them I shall abide for ever. As for thee, Scorn, if thou wilt, the eternal laws of Heaven."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: morality Analysis: Antigone welcomes, and even loves, the idea of death. She is the only character to do so.

"ANTIGONE Would'st thou do more than slay thy prisoner? CREON Not I, thy life is mine, and that's enough. ANTIGONE Why dally then? To me no word of thine Is pleasant: God forbid it e'er should please; Nor am I more acceptable to thee. And yet how otherwise had I achieved A name so glorious as by burying A brother? so my townsmen all would say, Where they not gagged by terror, Manifold A king's prerogatives, and not the least That all his acts and all his words are law."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: morality Analysis: Antigone's approach to death is not as fearless as she claims; unable to live in a world where divine law crumbles under human law, she finds death to be the only option left to her.

"ANTIGONE Sister, forbear, or I shall hate thee soon, And the dead man will hate thee too, with cause. Say I am mad and give my madness rein To wreck itself; the worst that can befall Is but to die an honorable death."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: morality Analysis: Because Antigone approaches death without regret, her demise takes on a tone other than the tragic feel of Jocasta's suicide.

"SECOND MESSENGER Hearing the loud lament above her son With her own hand she stabbed herself to the heart."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: morality Analysis: Eurydice's death strangely parallels Jocasta's suicide, which was in response to the metaphorical death of her perception of Oedipus.

"MESSENGER So at the bidding of our distraught lord We looked, and in the craven's vaulted gloom I saw the maiden lying strangled there, A noose of linen twined about her neck; And hard beside her, clasping her cold form, Her lover lay bewailing his dead bride Death-wedded, and his father's cruelty. When the King saw him, with a terrible groan He moved towards him, crying, "O my son What hast thou done? What ailed thee? What mischance Has reft thee of thy reason? O come forth, Come forth, my son; thy father supplicates." But the son glared at him with tiger eyes, Spat in his face, and then, without a word, Drew his two-hilted sword and smote, but missed His father flying backwards. Then the boy, Wroth with himself, poor wretch, incontinent Fell on his sword and drove it through his side Home, but yet breathing clasped in his lax arms The maid, her pallid cheek incarnadined With his expiring gasps. So there they lay Two corpses, one in death. His marriage rites Are consummated in the halls of Death: A witness that of ills whate'er befall Mortals' unwisdom is the worst of all."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: morality Analysis: For Eurydice, suicide becomes the only choice once she learns of the double deaths of Antigone and Haemon.

"ISMENE To me, Antigone, no word of friends Has come, or glad or grievous, since we twain Were reft of our two brethren in one day By double fratricide; and since i' the night Our Argive leaguers fled, no later news Has reached me, to inspirit or deject."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: morality Analysis: Just as Oedipus's family was the cause of his self-injury, so his sons are the cause of each other's death.

"HAEMON The Theban commons with one voice say, No. CREON What, shall the mob dictate my policy? HAEMON 'Tis thou, methinks, who speakest like a boy. CREON Am I to rule for others, or myself? HAEMON A State for one man is no State at all. CREON The State is his who rules it, so 'tis held. HAEMON As monarch of a desert thou wouldst shine. CREON This boy, methinks, maintains the woman's cause. HAEMON If thou be'st woman, yes. My thought's for thee. CREON O reprobate, would'st wrangle with thy sire?"

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: power Analysis: Creon's power blinds him to the multitude of voices speaking against his actions.

"CREON Not even death can make a foe a friend. ANTIGONE My nature is for mutual love, not hate. CREON Die then, and love the dead if thou must; No woman shall be the master while I live."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: power Analysis: Creon's power has made him arrogant and cold.

"GUARD May I not speak, or must I turn and go Without a word?-- CREON Begone! canst thou not see That e'en this question irks me? GUARD Where, my lord? Is it thy ears that suffer, or thy heart? CREON Why seek to probe and find the seat of pain? GUARD I gall thine ears--this miscreant thy mind. CREON What an inveterate babbler! get thee gone! GUARD Babbler perchance, but innocent of the crime. CREON Twice guilty, having sold thy soul for gain. GUARD Alas! how sad when reasoners reason wrong. CREON Go, quibble with thy reason. If thou fail'st To find these malefactors, thou shalt own The wages of ill-gotten gains is death."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: power Analysis: Creon, irritated by the guard, threatens him with death. This is a far cry from the Creon we encountered in Oedipus the King.

"CREON Of all these Thebans none so deems but thou. ANTIGONE These think as I, but bate their breath to thee. CREON Hast thou no shame to differ from all these? ANTIGONE To reverence kith and kin can bring no shame."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: power Analysis: Emboldened by his power, Creon attempts to shame Antigone because her views are different from his.

"TEIRESIAS How far good counsel is the best of goods? CREON True, as unwisdom is the worst of ills. TEIRESIAS Thou art infected with that ill thyself. CREON I will not bandy insults with thee, seer. TEIRESIAS And yet thou say'st my prophesies are frauds. CREON Prophets are all a money-getting tribe. TEIRESIAS And kings are all a lucre-loving race. CREON Dost know at whom thou glancest, me thy lord? TEIRESIAS Lord of the State and savior, thanks to me."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: power Analysis: Having remarked just moments before that Teiresias's prophecies are always true, Creon attacks the man anyway when offended by what the prophet has to say. Here, Creon displays the same rashness and temper that Oedipus did as king, and against the same man.

"CREON And yet wert bold enough to break the law? ANTIGONE Yea, for these laws were not ordained of Zeus, And she who sits enthroned with gods below, Justice, enacted not these human laws. Nor did I deem that thou, a mortal man, Could'st by a breath annul and override The immutable unwritten laws of Heaven. They were not born today nor yesterday; They die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang. I was not like, who feared no mortal's frown, To disobey these laws and so provoke The wrath of Heaven. I knew that I must die, E'en hadst thou not proclaimed it; and if death Is thereby hastened, I shall count it gain. For death is gain to him whose life, like mine, Is full of misery. Thus my lot appears Not sad, but blissful; for had I endured To leave my mother's son unburied there, I should have grieved with reason, but not now. And if in this thou judgest me a fool, Methinks the judge of folly's not acquit."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: rules and order Analysis: Antigone challenges Creon's moral and legal authority by elevating religious rites above his worldly law.

"ANTIGONE I urge no more; nay, wert thou willing still, I would not welcome such a fellowship. Go thine own way; myself will bury him. How sweet to die in such employ, to rest,-- Sister and brother linked in love's embrace-- A sinless sinner, banned awhile on earth, But by the dead commended; and with them I shall abide for ever. As for thee, Scorn, if thou wilt, the eternal laws of Heaven. ISMENE I scorn them not, but to defy the State Or break her ordinance I have no skill."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: rules and order Analysis: Antigone elevates religious law above the law of the state, while Ismene is more concerned with the laws of the state.

"ANTIGONE The slain man was no villain but a brother. CREON The patriot perished by the outlaw's brand. ANTIGONE Nathless the realms below these rites require. CREON Not that the base should fare as do the brave. ANTIGONE Who knows if this world's crimes are virtues there?"

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: rules and order Analysis: Antigone looks to divine law for justice, while Creon elevates his own notions of pragmatism and morality.

"HAEMON The Theban commons with one voice say, No. CREON What, shall the mob dictate my policy? HAEMON 'Tis thou, methinks, who speakest like a boy. CREON Am I to rule for others, or myself? HAEMON A State for one man is no State at all. CREON The State is his who rules it, so 'tis held. HAEMON As monarch of a desert thou wouldst shine. CREON This boy, methinks, maintains the woman's cause. HAEMON If thou be'st woman, yes. My thought's for thee. CREON O reprobate, would'st wrangle with thy sire?"

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: rules and order Analysis: Haemon suggests that Creon's sense of justice is flawed.

"ISMENE Bethink thee, sister, of our father's fate, Abhorred, dishonored, self-convinced of sin, Blinded, himself his executioner. Think of his mother-wife (ill sorted names) Done by a noose herself had twined to death And last, our hapless brethren in one day, Both in a mutual destiny involved, Self-slaughtered, both the slayer and the slain. Bethink thee, sister, we are left alone; Shall we not perish wretchedest of all, If in defiance of the law we cross A monarch's will?--weak women, think of that, Not framed by nature to contend with men. Remember this too that the stronger rules; We must obey his orders, these or worse. Therefore I plead compulsion and entreat The dead to pardon. I perforce obey The powers that be. 'Tis foolishness, I ween, To overstep in aught the golden mean."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: rules and order Analysis: Ismene fears betraying the laws of state, whereas her sister is more concerned with divine law.

"(Ant. 2) Passing the wildest flight thought are the cunning and skill, That guide man now to the light, but now to counsels of ill. If he honors the laws of the land, and reveres the Gods of the State Proudly his city shall stand; but a cityless outcast I rate Whoso bold in his pride from the path of right doth depart; Ne'er may I sit by his side, or share the thoughts of his heart."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: rules and order Analysis: The Chorus explains that it is essential to honor both the laws of the land and of the gods.

"CREON Elders, the gods have righted one again Our storm-tossed ship of state, now safe in port. But you by special summons I convened As my most trusted councilors; first, because I knew you loyal to Laius of old; Again, when Oedipus restored our State, Both while he ruled and when his rule was o'er, Ye still were constant to the royal line. Now that his two sons perished in one day, Brother by brother murderously slain, By right of kinship to the Princes dead, I claim and hold the throne and sovereignty. Yet 'tis no easy matter to discern The temper of a man, his mind and will, Till he be proved by exercise of power; And in my case, if one who reigns supreme Swerve from the highest policy, tongue-tied By fear of consequence, that man I hold, And ever held, the basest of the base. And I contemn the man who sets his friend Before his country. For myself, I call To witness Zeus, whose eyes are everywhere, If I perceive some mischievous design To sap the State, I will not hold my tongue; Nor would I reckon as my private friend A public foe, well knowing that the State Is the good ship that holds our fortunes all: Farewell to friendship, if she suffers wreck. Such is the policy by which I seek To serve the Commons and conformably I have proclaimed an edict as concerns The sons of Oedipus; Eteocles Who in his country's battle fought and fell, The foremost champion--duly bury him With all observances and ceremonies That are the guerdon of the heroic dead. But for the miscreant exile who returned Minded in flames and ashes to blot out His father's city and his father's gods, And glut his vengeance with his kinsmen's blood, Or drag them captive at his chariot wheels-- For Polyneices 'tis ordained that none Shall give him burial or make mourn for him, But leave his corpse unburied, to be meat For dogs and carrion crows, a ghastly sight. So am I purposed; never by my will Shall miscreants take precedence of true men, But all good patriots, alive or dead, Shall be by me preferred and honored."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Creon automatically assumes the law-breaker is a man.

"CREON Well, let her know the stubbornest of wills Are soonest bended, as the hardest iron, O'er-heated in the fire to brittleness, Flies soonest into fragments, shivered through. A snaffle curbs the fieriest steed, and he Who in subjection lives must needs be meek. But this proud girl, in insolence well-schooled, First overstepped the established law, and then-- A second and worse act of insolence-- She boasts and glories in her wickedness. Now if she thus can flout authority Unpunished, I am woman, she the man. But though she be my sister's child or nearer Of kin than all who worship at my hearth, Nor she nor yet her sister shall escape The utmost penalty, for both I hold, As arch-conspirators, of equal guilt. Bring forth the older; even now I saw her Within the palace, frenzied and distraught. The workings of the mind discover oft Dark deeds in darkness schemed, before the act. More hateful still the miscreant who seeks When caught, to make a virtue of a crime."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Creon implies that men are the enforcers of law while women are weak and to be controlled.

"CREON Play not the spaniel, thou a woman's slave. HAEMON When thou dost speak, must no man make reply?"

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Creon insults Haemon by suggesting he is subservient to Antigone.

"CREON Not even death can make a foe a friend. ANTIGONE My nature is for mutual love, not hate. CREON Die then, and love the dead if thou must; No woman shall be the master while I live."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Creon reveals that his reasoning is based on sexism, not on rationality.

"ISMENE Bethink thee, sister, of our father's fate, Abhorred, dishonored, self-convinced of sin, Blinded, himself his executioner. Think of his mother-wife (ill sorted names) Done by a noose herself had twined to death And last, our hapless brethren in one day, Both in a mutual destiny involved, Self-slaughtered, both the slayer and the slain. Bethink thee, sister, we are left alone; Shall we not perish wretchedest of all, If in defiance of the law we cross A monarch's will?--weak women, think of that, Not framed by nature to contend with men. Remember this too that the stronger rules; We must obey his orders, these or worse. Therefore I plead compulsion and entreat The dead to pardon. I perforce obey The powers that be. 'Tis foolishness, I ween, To overstep in aught the golden mean."

Work: Antigone by Sophocles Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Ismene argues that because she and Antigone are women, they lack the power to defy the state.

"His form was of the same strong and stalwart contour as ever: his port was still erect, his hair was still raven-black; nor were his features altered or sunk: not in one year's space, by any sorrow, could his athletic strength be quelled, or his vigorous prime blighted. But in his countenance, I saw a change: that looked desperate and brooding —that reminded me of some wronged and fettered wild beast or bird, dangerous to approach in his sullen woe. The caged eagle, whose gold-ringed eyes cruelty has extinguished, might look as looked that sightless Samson."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: appearances Analysis: English teachers are always going on about how characters change—you know, what do they learn, how do they grow, that kind of thing. Rochester's change is personal and emotional, of course, but it's also physical; you can see in his face that he really understands his (attempted) crime—and also that he's pretty much lost all hope. Being able to read information in people's faces accurately just by looking at them is something that happens a lot in this novel (and that depends on a nineteenth-century pseudo-science called "phrenology"—think of it as a palm-reading for your forehead). For more on the reference to Samson, check out our "Allusions" section.

""Oh, sir!—never mind jewels! I don't like to hear them spoken of. Jewels for Jane Eyre sounds unnatural and strange: I would rather not have them." "I will myself put the diamond chain round your neck, and the circlet on your forehead,—which it will become: for nature, at least, has stamped her patent of nobility on this brow, Jane; and I will clasp the bracelets on these fine wrists, and load these fairy-like fingers with rings." "No, no, sir! think of other subjects, and speak of other things, and in another strain. Don't address me as if I were a beauty; I am your plain, Quakerish governess." "You are a beauty in my eyes, and a beauty just after the desire of my heart,—delicate and aërial." "Puny and insignificant, you mean. You are dreaming, sir,—or you are sneering. For God's sake don't be ironical!""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: appearances Analysis: Famous passage alert: Jane's self-description as a "plain, Quakerish governess" is one of the most important and most frequently quoted lines in the novel. Her insistence that this plain exterior is an expression of who she really is, and that jewels and fancy gowns aren't right for her, is interesting on a lot of levels. Is this just Jane's low self-esteem cropping up again? Or is it a moral stance—Jane's way of telling Rochester that she's not his mistress and that she's going to look respectable, not all tarted up with his finery? How do we read this moment knowing that another person who insisted on plainness at all cost —Mr. Brocklehurst—was a complete hypocrite? Surely Jane's not a hypocrite? So when is it okay to insist on being dressed humbly and modestly, and when is it overreacting?

"The refreshing meal, the brilliant fire, the presence and kindness of her beloved instructress, or, perhaps, more than all these, something in her own unique mind, had roused her powers within her. They woke, they kindled: first, they glowed in the bright tint of her cheek, which till this hour I had never seen but pale and bloodless; then they shone in the liquid lustre of her eyes, which had suddenly acquired a beauty more singular than that of Miss Temple's—a beauty neither of fine colour nor long eyelash, nor pencilled brow, but of meaning, of movement, of radiance. Then her soul sat on her lips, and language flowed [...]."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: appearances Analysis: Helen's beauty comes not from fancy curls or makeup, but from animation, activity, and intellectual stimulation. It's not just that "real beauty comes from the inside," although that does seem to be true in this novel—it's that Helen is at her most beautiful when she's excited about a subject that she knows a lot about and when she's talking about it to someone she really respects. Notice that her beauty comes out most in movement and talking—it's an active rather than a passive beauty. What that means is that she's beautiful because of what she's doing and because she's so intensely alive: not because she's a passive, static object, something to be looked at, like a beautiful painting.

"I rose; I dressed myself with care: obliged to be plain—for I had no article of attire that was not made with extreme simplicity—I was still by nature solicitous to be neat. It was not my habit to be disregardful of appearance, or careless of the impression I made: on the contrary, I ever wished to look as well as I could, and to please as much as my want of beauty would permit. I sometimes regretted that I was not handsomer: I sometimes wished to have rosy cheeks, a straight nose, and small cherry mouth; I desired to be tall, stately and finely developed in figure; I felt it a misfortune that I was so little, so pale, and had features so irregular and so marked. And why had I these aspirations and these regrets? It would be difficult to say: I could not then distinctly say it to myself; yet I had a reason, and a logical, natural reason too."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: appearances Analysis: In this passage Jane considers appearance in several different ways. She begins by thinking about being dressed neatly and carefully—basically, not looking like a slob. But this pride in her appearance quickly turns into a lament that she isn't more of a classic beauty. She can't even admit why she wants her clothes to look nice, or to be prettier, although she claims there is a specific reason... can you guess what it might be? Yep, walks on two legs, has a deep voice, rhymes with Bochester—you got it.

"Bessie, when she heard this narrative, sighed and said, "Poor Miss Jane is to be pitied, too, Abbot." "Yes," responded Abbot, "if she were a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad as that." "Not a great deal, to be sure," agreed Bessie: "at any rate a beauty like Miss Georgiana would be more moving in the same condition." "Yes, I doat on Miss Georgiana!" cried the fervent Abbot. "Little darling!—with her long curls and her blue eyes, and such a sweet colour as she has; just as if she were painted!""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: appearances Analysis: Jane Eyre is famous for being a plain-looking girl rather than a beauty, and here we see the unfortunate and unfair consequences of her plainness: the servants find it difficult to sympathize with her just because she's not cute and sweet and blue-eyed and curly-haired. Compassion and affection are easier for people like Bessie and Abbot to give to pretty girls. Yeah, they're not shallow or anything.

"I am sure most people would have thought him an ugly man; yet there was so much unconscious pride in his port; so much case in his demeanour; such a look of complete indifference to his own external appearance; so haughty a reliance on the power of other qualities, intrinsic or adventitious, to atone for the lack of mere personal attractiveness, that in looking at him, one inevitably shared the indifference; and even in a blind, imperfect sense, put faith in the confidence."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: appearances Analysis: Jane is able to separate Rochester's actual appearance from how Rochester is perceived by the people around him and from what she herself thinks of his character. Distinguishing appearance from personality is something she learned to do at Lowood.

""Listen, then, Jane Eyre, to your sentence: to-morrow, place the glass before you, and draw in chalk your own picture, faithfully; without softening one defect: omit no harsh line, smooth away no displeasing irregularity; write under it, 'Portrait of a Governess, disconnected, poor, and plain.' "Afterwards, take a piece of smooth ivory—you have one prepared in your drawing-box: take your pallette, mix your freshest, finest, clearest tints; choose your most delicate camel-hair pencils; delineate carefully the loveliest face you can imagine; paint it in your softest shades and sweetest hues, according to the description given by Mrs. Fairfax of Blanche Ingram: remember the raven ringlets, the oriental eye;—what! you revert to Mr. Rochester as a model! Order! No snivel!—no sentiment!—no regret! I will endure only sense and resolution. Recall the august yet harmonious lineaments, the Grecian neck and bust: let the round and dazzling arm be visible, and the delicate hand; omit neither diamond ring nor gold bracelet; portray faithfully the attire, aërial lace and glistening satin, graceful scarf and golden rose: call it 'Blanche, an accomplished lady of rank.' "Whenever, in future, you should chance to fancy Mr. Rochester thinks well of you, take out these two picture and compare them: say, 'Mr. Rochester might probably win that noble lady's love, if he chose to strive for it; is it likely he would waste a serious thought on this indigent and insignificant plebeian?'""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: appearances Analysis: Notice that the portrait Jane draws of Blanche is completely imaginary; she hasn't seen or met Blanche yet, although we already know that Jane's drawings and paintings sometimes have an eerie way of looking just like real places and people that she's never seen. These portraits probably tell us more about the contrast between who Jane is and who she wishes she could be than about the real contrast between Jane and Blanche. It's like feeling a bit depressed, having low self-esteem, and comparing yourself to airbrushed pictures of Zoë Kravitz.

""Miss Temple, Miss Temple, what—what is that girl with curled hair? Red hair, ma'am, curled—curled all over?" And extending his cane he pointed to the awful object, his hand shaking as he did so. "It is Julia Severn," replied Miss Temple, very quietly. "Julia Severn, ma'am! And why has she, or any other, curled hair? Why, in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly—here in an evangelical, charitable establishment—as to wear her hair one mass of curls?" "Julia's hair curls naturally," returned Miss Temple, still more quietly. "Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature: I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl's hair must be cut off entirely [...].""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: appearances Analysis: Poor Julia Severn. Here we see Mr. Brocklehurst at his most unreasonable. Later, he'll claim that the girls at Lowood Institution shouldn't curl or braid their hair because that's wasting time on worldly vanities. Okay, that's a little extreme, but we understand the logic: just take what you're given and don't worry about your appearance. But here he implies that, if Julia can't find a way to straighten her hair and make it less good-looking, then he'll give her one serious buzz cut. So he's contradicting himself: if curls are bad because they're an unnatural kind of ornament, then Julia's, which are natural, should be okay. But here he freaks out and claims that "we are not to conform to nature" and that the girls should live under Grace (that's the grace of God) instead. But didn't God give Julia her curly hair? Why does Mr. Brocklehurst try to say that nature and Grace are different, then? That's right, he's an idiot.

"And was Mr. Rochester now ugly in my eyes? No, reader: gratitude, and many associations, all pleasurable and genial, made his face the object I best liked to see; his presence in a room was more cheering than the brightest fire. Yet I had not forgotten his faults: indeed, I could not, for he brought them frequently before me."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: appearances Analysis: Rochester's actual appearance seems to transform as Jane's opinion of him changes (and as she starts to fall in love with him). We've got to be on the lookout with this novel for moments when someone's exterior seems to physically change—but what's really changing is the attitude of the person looking at them. In this passage, Jane admits that it's her feelings that make Rochester look different, but at other moments she's a little less obvious.

""I have a Master to serve whose kingdom is not of this world: my mission is to mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh; to teach them to clothe themselves with shame-facedness and sobriety, not with braided hair and costly apparel; and each of the young persons before us has a string of hair twisted in plaits which vanity itself might have woven: these, I repeat, must be cut off; think of the time wasted, of—" Mr. Brocklehurst was here interrupted: three other visitors, ladies, now entered the room. They ought to have come a little sooner to have heard his lecture on dress, for they were splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs. The two younger of the trio (fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had grey beaver hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled; the elder lady was enveloped in a costly velvet shawl, trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: appearances Analysis: We've suspected all along that Mr. Brocklehurst was the worst kind of hypocrite, and here we get some very obvious confirmation of our suspicions. Just as he's lecturing Miss Temple on why all the girls at Lowood must have very plain clothing and hair—he's even against braids—his wife and daughters come in completely tricked out in the latest fashions with complicated hairdos and (we assume) their noses in the air. Maybe keeping the Lowood girls plain-looking is more about keeping them in their lowly place than about real Christian humility. Of course, Mr. Brocklehurst's family members aren't exactly charitable and good-hearted, either, so ironically his advice to Miss Temple does result in the girls at Lowood being, in a way, holier. But, and we might be going out on a limb here, we don't think they'd be any less holy if they were allowed to braid their hair. Just a thought.

"They conversed of things I had never heard of; of nations and times past; of countries far away: of secrets of nature discovered or guessed at: they spoke of books: how many they had read! What stores of knowledge they possessed! Then they seemed so familiar with French names and French authors: but my amazement reached its climax when Miss Temple asked Helen if she sometimes snatched a moment to recall the Latin her father had taught her, and taking a book from a shelf, bade her read and construe a page of Virgil; and Helen obeyed, my organ of Veneration expanding at every sounding line."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: education Analysis: At this moment, Jane develops a love of knowledge and learning that has something to do with the sparkling conversation going on between Miss Temple and Helen Burns, but a lot more to do with the way that she idolizes the two of them. Just like a girl watching her idols today, Jane wants to be what they are—but instead of having fashion mavens like Tyra Banks for idols, she has a schoolteacher and a pious little girl. But the main impulse is the same—Jane basically hero-worships both of them and everything they do.

"This morning, the village school opened. I had twenty scholars. But three of the number can read: none write or cipher. Several knit, and a few sew a little. They speak with the broadest accent of the district. At present, they and I have a difficulty in understanding each other's language. Some of them are unmannered, rough, intractable, as well as ignorant; but others are docile, have a wish to learn, and evince a disposition that pleases me. I must not forget that these coarsely-clad little peasants are of flesh and blood as good as the scions of gentlest genealogy; and that the germs of native excellence, refinement, intelligence, kind feeling, are as likely to exist in their hearts as in those of the best-born. My duty will be to develop these germs: surely I shall find some happiness in discharging that office."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: education Analysis: Basically, this is the part where the new college grad with a degree in education (Jane) has turned down a gig at a high-class private school (tutoring Adèle) in order to do Teach for America (the village school). It's her community service time, something way more difficult and way more low-to-the-ground than she was trained for, but she can feel good about it.

""I dare say you are clever, though," continued Bessie, by way of solace. "What can you do? Can you play on the piano?" "A little." There was one in the room; Bessie went and opened it, and then asked me to sit down and give her a tune: I played a waltz or two and she was charmed. "The Miss Reeds could not play as well!" she said exultingly. "I always said you would surpass them in learning.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: education Analysis: Bessie has always thought of Jane's intellectual abilities as making up for, or even replacing, her (lack of) good looks. If Bessie were a high school teacher, she'd be the kind who totally believed that there are only two kinds of girls: the popular, pretty ones and the dorky, bookish ones, and never the twain shall meet. We know that's a pretty silly way to see the world—haven't we learned from reality TV that anyone can be gorgeous with the right expensive makeover? And haven't you learned from Shmoop that anyone can get smarter with the right tutor? It's nice that Bessie's so excited for Jane's accomplishments, but the way she sees the world—pretty and smart are opposites—is going to make a lot of trouble for Jane down the line, when she has to keep herself dowdy in order to feel savvy.

"I had meant to be so good, and to do so much at Lowood; to make so many friends, to earn respect, and win affection. Already I had made visible progress: that very morning I had reached the head of my class; Miss Miller had praised me warmly; Miss Temple had smiled approbation; she had promised to teach me drawing, and to let me learn French, if I continued to make similar improvement two months longer: and then I was well-received by my fellow-pupils; treated as an equal by those of my own age, and not molested by any: now, here I lay again crushed and trodden on; and could I ever rise more?"

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: education Analysis: From her first days at Lowood, Jane sees learning not only as something enjoyable (she thinks learning French is a special treat!) but as her way of rising in the world and earning friends and approval. Still, learning doesn't make up for ethics, and Jane is very defensive about being slandered.

"I could talk a while when the evening commenced: but the first gush of vivacity and fluency gone, I was fain to sit on a stool at Diana's feet, to rest my head on her knee, and listen alternately to her and Mary; while they sounded thoroughly the topic on which I had but touched. Diana offered to teach me German. I liked to learn of her: I saw the part of instructress pleased and suited her; that of scholar pleased and suited me no less."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: education Analysis: In her refuge at Moor House, Jane reverts to her Lowood days; Diana is a lot like Miss Temple and Helen Burns combined, a kind and intelligent teacher who also has strong religious beliefs. During this difficult moment, Jane becomes a student—and a child—all over again in order to recuperate after her traumatic experience with Rochester.

"I scarcely knew what school was; Bessie sometimes spoke of it as a place where young ladies sat in the stocks, wore backboards, and were expected to be exceedingly genteel and precise; John Reed hated his school, and abused his master: but John Reed's tastes were no rule for mine, and if Bessie's accounts of school-discipline (gathered from the young ladies of a family where she had lived before coming to Gateshead) were somewhat appalling, her details of certain accomplishments attained by these same ladies were, I thought, equally attractive. She boasted of beautiful paintings of landscapes and flowers by them executed; of songs they could sing and pieces they could play, of purses they could net, of French books they could translate; till my spirit was moved to emulation as I listened. Besides, school would be a complete change: it implied a long journey, an entire separation from Gateshead, an entrance into a new life."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: education Analysis: Jane instinctively embraces the opportunity to go to school—it's a way to get away from Gateshead, and the fact that people she hates dislike school probably means that she'll enjoy it. It's sort of an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing. She's also really interested in being "accomplished," in learning, and in being a talented, cultured person, which is more than we can say for any of the Reeds. From the beginning, then, Jane's motives for getting an education are complex: she loves learning for its own sake, but it's also a way out of a bad living situation and a way to distinguish herself from louts like John.

"I had had no communication by letter or message with the outer world: school-rules, school-duties, school-habits and notions, and voices, and faces, and phrases, and costumes, and preferences, and antipathies: such was what I knew of existence. And now I felt that it was not enough: I tired of the routine of eight years in one afternoon. I desired liberty..."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: education Analysis: Some people get sick of things slowly and stuff builds up forever; other people wake up one day and need to change their whole lives. Obviously, Jane is the second type of person. It's pretty amazing, though, that she realizes there's more to life than studying—after all, education was her ticket out of Gateshead and her way of earning approval from her closest friends and teachers. Where do you think Jane got the idea that education is only a part of her life, and not the whole of it? Why does she get sick of Lowood and long to get out in the world, besides simple wanderlust?

""Oh, don't fall back on over-modesty! I have examined Adèle, and find you have taken great pains with her: she is not bright, she has no talents; yet in a short time she has made much improvement." "Sir, you have given me my 'cadeau'; I am obliged to you: it is the meed teachers most covet; praise of their pupils' progress.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: education Analysis: This little moment where Rochester tells Jane she's a good teacher is important, because Jane never tells us so herself. It's one of the things she forgets to mention, or maybe leaves out—her modesty is getting in the way of telling her own story. It won't be the last time that Jane can't be trusted to depict herself accurately.

"Each picture told a story; mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever profoundly interesting: as interesting as the tales Bessie sometimes narrated on winter evenings, when she chanced to be in good humour; and when, having brought her ironing-table to the nursery-hearth, she allowed us to sit about it, and while she got up Mrs. Reed's lace frills, and crimped her night-cap borders, fed our eager attention with passages of love and adventure taken from the old fairy tales and older ballads; or (as at a later period I discovered) from the pages of Pamela, and Henry, Earl of Moreland."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: education Analysis: Very early in her life, stories, tales, and narratives are some of the most positive things that Jane experiences. It's unsurprising that she becomes a teacher and governess, given that hearing tales from her nursemaid was a special treat, and that these tales naturally segue into hearing parts of, and then reading, novels. (By the way, we definitely recommend Pamela.) Even at the very beginning of the novel, Jane is learning to be an astute "reader" of the pictures in Bewick's British Birds, and to connect the text with the pictures to understand what's going on.

"Thus relieved of a grievous load, I from that hour set to work afresh, resolved to pioneer my way through every difficulty: I toiled hard, and my success was proportionate to my efforts; my memory, not naturally tenacious, improved with practice; exercise sharpened my wits; in a few weeks I was promoted to a higher class; in less than two months I was allowed to commence French and drawing. I learned the first two tenses of the verb Être, and sketched my first cottage...on the same day. That night, on going to bed, I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper of hot roast potatoes, or white break and new milk, with which I was wont to amuse my inward cravings: I feasted instead on the spectacle of ideal drawings, which I saw in the dark; all the work of my own hands..."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: education Analysis: When Jane starts fantasizing about homework instead of food, we get a tiny bit nervous about her. Still, we're glad that she's found something to sustain her through the long, cold, hungry nights at Lowood.

"These were vile discoveries; but except for the treachery of concealment, I should have made them no subject of reproach to my wife, even when I found her nature wholly alien to mine, her tastes obnoxious to me, her cast of mind common, low, narrow, and singularly incapable of being led to anything higher, expanded to anything larger—when I found that I could not pass a single evening, nor even a single hour of the day with her in comfort; that kindly conversation could not be sustained between us, because whatever topic I started, immediately received from her a turn at once coarse and trite, perverse and imbecile—when I perceived that I should never have a quiet or settled household, because no servant would bear the continued outbreaks of her violent and unreasonable temper, or the vexations of her absurd, contradictory, exacting orders—even then I restrained myself: I eschewed upbraiding, I curtailed remonstrance; I tried to devour my repentance and disgust in secret; I repressed the deep antipathy I felt."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: forgiveness and 'the other' Analysis: At several points Rochester seems to admit, subtly, that the real reason his marriage to Bertha failed is "irreconcilable differences": they just didn't get along. If you took this passage and substituted the word "niece" for "wife," it could easily express Mrs. Reed's attitude toward Jane when she was a child. At Gateshead, Jane was the "heterogeneous thing," the one thing that's not like the others; in Bertha and Rochester's marriage, Bertha is in the same sort of othered position.

"One night I had been awakened by her yells—(since the medical men had pronounced her mad, she had, of course, been shut up)—it was a fiery West Indian night; one of the description that frequently precede the hurricanes of those climates. Being unable to sleep in bed, I got up and opened the window. The air was like sulphur-steams —I could find no refreshment anywhere. Mosquitoes came buzzing in and hummed sullenly round the room; the sea, which I could hear from thence, rumbled dull like an earthquake—black clouds were casting up over it; the moon was setting in the waves, broad and red, like a hot cannon-ball—she threw her last bloody glance over a world quivering with the ferment of tempest. I was physically influenced by the atmosphere and scene, and my ears were filled with the curses the maniac still shrieked out; wherein she momentarily mingled my name with such a tone of demon-hate, with such language!—no professed harlot ever had a fouler vocabulary than she: though two rooms off, I heard every word—the thin partitions of the West India house opposing but slight obstruction to her wolfish cries."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: forgiveness and 'the other' Analysis: Aww, poor Rochester. He goes to Jamaica to get in on the whole colonial-exploitation thing, marries a woman to get rich, and he doesn't like her and she has mental problems. Now he has to deal with hot weather and mosquitoes and that pesky Bertha screaming and screaming at night because he's imprisoned her in their house. These British colonies sure are a hellish experience... for the overlords using them to get rich quick.

"I was a discord in Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody there; I had nothing in harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children, or her chosen vassalage. If they did not love me, in fact, as little did I love them. They were not bound to regard with affection a thing that could not sympathize with one amongst them; a heterogeneous thing, opposed to them in temperament, in capacity, in propensities; a useless thing, incapable of serving their interest, or adding to their pleasure; a noxious thing, cherishing the germs of indignation at their treatment, of contempt of their judgment. I know that had I been a sanguine, brilliant, careless, exacting, handsome, romping child—though equally dependent and friendless—Mrs. Reed would have endured my presence more complacently; her children would have entertained for me more of the cordiality of fellow-feeling; the servants would have been less prone to make me the scape-goat of the nursery."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: forgiveness and 'the other' Analysis: Even at the very beginning of her life, Jane doesn't really fit in with her surroundings; she's an outsider from the start. What seems to set her apart her and make her different from her aunt's family and household is her sense of injustice and her inability to let unfairness wash over her. There also seems to be no possibility of compromise, of integrating a "heterogeneous thing" like Jane into an otherwise homogenous household. Those who are unlike in temperament, the novel implies, will always be incapable of living in harmony. It's important, then, to find people to live with who may be different in class, bloodline, or situation, but are the same in attitude. (Hint, hint!) We also see in this passage how willing—almost eager—Jane is to characterize herself as different, as distinct.

""A wind fresh from Europe blew over the ocean and rushed through the open casement: the storm broke, streamed, thundered, blazed, and the air grew pure. I then framed and fixed a resolution. While I walked under the dripping orange-trees of my wet garden, and amongst its drenched pomegranates and pine-apples, and while the refulgent dawn of the tropics kindled round me—I reasoned thus, Jane—and now listen; for it was true Wisdom that consoled me in that hour, and showed me the right path to follow. "The sweet wind from Europe was still whispering in the refreshed leaves, and the Atlantic was thundering in glorious liberty; my heart, dried up and scorched for a long time, swelled to the tone, and filled with living blood—my being longed for renewal—my soul thirsted for a pure draught. I saw hope revive—and felt regeneration possible. From a flowery arch at the bottom of my garden I gazed over the sea —bluer than the sky: the old world was beyond; clear prospects opened thus:— "'Go,' said Hope, 'and live again in Europe: there it is not known what a sullied name you bear, nor what a filthy burden is bound to you.'""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: forgiveness and 'the other' Analysis: Have you ever felt convinced that the problem wasn't you, it was the crumby place you lived? Rochester can't be to blame here; it's not like he got himself into this situation with Bertha in the West Indies. The problem must be Jamaica itself. If he goes back to Europe, everything will be good and civilized again. There's no chance that he himself was the original problem and that wherever he goes he'll take it with him. Ugh. This guy.

""It seemed, sir, a woman, tall and large, with thick and dark hair hanging long down her back. I know not what dress she had on: it was white and straight; but whether gown, sheet, or shroud, I cannot tell." "Did you see her face?" "Not at first. But presently she took my veil from its place; she held it up, gazed at it long, and then she threw it over her own head, and turned to the mirror. At that moment I saw the reflection of the visage and features quite distinctly in the dark oblong glass." "And how were they?" "Fearful and ghastly to me—oh, sir, I never saw a face like it! It was a discoloured face—it was a savage face. I wish I could forget the roll of the red eyes and the fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments!" "Ghosts are usually pale, Jane." "This, sir, was purple: the lips were swelled and dark; the brow furrowed: the black eyebrows widely raised over the bloodshot eyes. Shall I tell you of what it reminded me?" "You may." "Of the foul German spectre—the Vampyre.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: forgiveness and 'the other' Analysis: If we subtract Jane's ignorance and fear from this weird description, we figure out that Bertha has a dark-colored face, large lips, and black eyebrows. A little later in the novel, we learn that Bertha's mother was Creole, which means that she had a multiracial background. So Jane is using a supernatural creature, the vampire, as a metaphor to describe a woman of color. By depicting Bertha's features in monstrous, supernatural terms, Jane characterizes herself as "afraid of the batlike undead" instead of "afraid of racial difference." Yeah, that's the way to deal with your fear of the unknown: turn it into something from a horror movie. (For a reading of what's going on with the horror-movie stuff here, see the discussion of Quote #9 in "The Supernatural" section.)

"He chuckled; he rubbed his hands. "Oh, it is rich to see and hear her?" he exclaimed. "Is she original? Is she piquant? I would not exchange this one little English girl for the Grand Turk's whole seraglio, gazelle-eyes, houri forms, and all!" The Eastern allusion bit me again. "I'll not stand you an inch in the stead of a seraglio," I said; "so don't consider me an equivalent for one. If you have a fancy for anything in that line, away with you, sir, to the bazaars of Stamboul without delay, and lay out in extensive slave-purchases some of that spare cash you seem at a loss to spend satisfactorily here." "And what will you do, Janet, while I am bargaining for so many tons of flesh and such an assortment of black eyes?" "I'll be preparing myself to go out as a missionary to preach liberty to them that are enslaved—your harem inmates amongst the rest. I'll get admitted there, and I'll stir up mutiny; and you, three-tailed bashaw as you are, sir, shall in a trice find yourself fettered amongst our hands: nor will I, for one, consent to cut your bonds till you have signed a charter, the most liberal that despot ever yet conferred.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: forgiveness and 'the other' Analysis: It's lucky that Rochester thinks Jane is just as good as a whole seraglio (like a harem), because apparently he's a "serial monogamist"; we know he's had at least four sexual partners—Bertha, Céline, Giacinta, and Clara—and probably others, too, and that he was aiming at bigamy this time. So, even though he relies on oriental stereotypes to talk about his own horniness, Rochester the English gentleman is the real consumer of "tons of flesh." Notice Jane's suggestion that she could be an insurrectionary missionary—maybe there's some foreshadowing there? Eh? Eh?

"In leaving England, I should leave a loved but empty land—Mr. Rochester is not there; and if he were, what is, what can that ever be to me? [...] Of course (as St. John once said) I must seek another interest in life to replace the one lost: is not the occupation he now offers me truly the most glorious man can adopt or God assign? Is it not, by its noble cares and sublime results, the one best calculated to fill the void left by uptorn affections and demolished hopes? I believe I must say, Yes—and yet I shudder. Alas! If I join St. John, I abandon half myself: if I go to India, I go to premature death."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: forgiveness and 'the other' Analysis: Jane's conviction that going to India would kill her—and the novel's implication that it does kill St. John later—just shows the British prejudice against it. According to this messed-up line of reasoning, a little English angel like Jane could never survive in India, which is, let's face it, that worst possible thing: not English.

"[W]e descended, Adèle wondering whether the petit coffre was at length come; for, owing to some mistake, its arrival had hitherto been delayed. She was gratified: there it stood, a little carton, on the table when we entered the dining-room. She appeared to know it by instinct. "Ma boîte! ma boîte!" exclaimed she, running towards it. "Yes, there is your 'boîte' at last: take it into a corner, you genuine daughter of Paris, and amuse yourself with disembowelling it," said the deep and rather sarcastic voice of Mr. Rochester, proceeding from the depths of an immense easy-chair at the fireside. "And mind," he continued, "don't bother me with any details of the anatomical process, or any notice of the condition of the entrails: let your operation be conducted in silence: tiens-toi tranquille, enfant; comprends-tu?""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: forgiveness and 'the other' Analysis: Reading Jane Eyre, it can be easy to overlook the novel's interest in the French while we're thinking about Bertha Mason's origin in the West Indies or St. John Rivers' desire to go on a missionary trip to India. Of course, these British colonies and their foreignness are being directly contrasted with the foreigners next door—the French. Adèle's obsession with superficial things—fancy clothes, presents, and her appearance—is stereotyped in the novel as her inherent "Frenchness" or Parisian nature. At the very end of the novel, Jane tells us what happened to Adèle: "a sound English education corrected in a great measure her French defects." So we definitely have a sense of Jane Eyre as a novel with a nationalist bias—Englishness is considered normal and everything else needs to conform to it.

"Seated on the carpet, by the side of this basin, was seen Mr. Rochester, costumed in shawls, with a turban on his head. His dark eyes and swarthy skin and Paynim features suited the costume exactly: he looked the very model of an Eastern emir, an agent or a victim of the bowstring. Presently advanced into view Miss Ingram. She, too, was attired in oriental fashion: a crimson scarf tied sash-like round the waist: an embroidered handkerchief knotted about her temples; her beautifully-moulded arms bare, one of them upraised in the act of supporting a pitcher, poised gracefully on her head. Both her cast of form and feature, her complexion and her general air, suggested the idea of some Israelitish princess of the patriarchal days; and such was doubtless the character she intended to represent."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: forgiveness and 'the other' Analysis: Rochester and Blanche act out a Bible scene in their game of charades, only to make it obvious to Jane that both of them have a certain weird foreign look to them anyway that makes it easy for them to play-act a Middle Eastern scene. Making it a scene from the Bible puts it in a sort of middle ground: it's "foreign," because it's "Eastern," but it's also familiar, because it's Judaeo-Christian. It's a case of "we have seen the Other, and it is us."

""This parlour is not his sphere," I reflected: "the Himalayan ridge or Caffre bush, even the plague-cursed Guinea Coast swamp would suit him better. Well may he eschew the calm of domestic life; it is not his element: there his faculties stagnate—they cannot develop or appear to advantage. It is in scenes of strife and danger—where courage is proved, and energy exercised, and fortitude tasked—that he will speak and move, the leader and superior. A merry child would have the advantage of him on this hearth. He is right to choose a missionary's career—I see it now.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: forgiveness and 'the other' Analysis: Rochester used a British colonial outpost (Jamaica) as a get-rich-quick scheme. St. John, on the other hand, is planning to use a British colonial outpost (India) as a sort of adventure playground. Ah, the many different kinds of exploitation!

"Ere long, a bell tinkled, and the curtain drew up. Within the arch, the bulky figure of Sir George Lynn, whom Mr. Rochester had likewise chosen, was seen enveloped in a white sheet: before him, on a table, lay open a large book; and at his side stood Amy Eshton, draped in Mr. Rochester's cloak, and holding a book in her hand. Somebody, unseen, rang the bell merrily; then Adèle (who had insisted on being one of her guardian's party) bounded forward, scattering round her the contents of a basket of flowers she carried on her arm. Then appeared the magnificent figure of Miss Ingram, clad in white, a long veil on her head, and a wreath of roses round her brow: by her side walked Mr. Rochester, and together they drew near the table. They knelt; while Mrs. Dent and Louisa Eshton, dressed also in white, took up their stations behind them. A ceremony followed, in dumb show, in which it was easy to recognize the pantomime of a marriage."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: marriage Analysis: Blanche Ingram and Mr. Rochester pair up for an elaborate game of charades, and the first thing they do is play-act their own wedding, silently, in front of the other houseguests and Jane. This is the first of several not-quite-real weddings we'll see in Jane Eyre, each of which suggests something about the actual marriages and pairings in the novel. In this particular case, the pretend wedding is meant to be a charade for the word "bride"—but that's only the first half of the word being acted out in the game, which is "Bridewell," a famous prison. Hmm, something that begins with a marriage ends with being in prison. Do you think that's supposed to be some kind of omen or something?

"Whenever I marry," she continued, after a pause which none interrupted, "I am resolved my husband shall not be a rival, but a foil to me. I will suffer no competitor near the throne; I shall exact an undivided homage: his devotions shall not be shared between me and the shape he sees in his mirror."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: marriage Analysis: Blanche Ingram's idea of a good marriage is one in which the partners are distinctly different and one partner is far superior to the other. As a stunning beauty, she doesn't want a handsome husband, but a hideous one: that way she'll always get all the attention. Notice how different this is from Jane's and Rochester's ideas about love and marriage—they're drawn together because they are alike. Blanche thinks that opposites attract, but Jane knows that kindred spirits attract more strongly.

""Come to my side, Jane, and let us explain and understand one another." "I will never again come to your side: I am torn away now, and cannot return." "But, Jane, I summon you as my wife: it is you only I intend to marry." I was silent: I thought he mocked me. "Come, Jane—come hither." "Your bride stands between us." He rose, and with a stride reached me. "My bride is here," he said, again drawing me to him, "because my equal is here, and my likeness. Jane, will you marry me?""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: marriage Analysis: Fair warning: we could have picked almost any quote from Volume 2, Chapter 8 because it's pretty much all like this. The irony is thick on the ground here—as Jane will learn at the end of Volume 2, Rochester's bride does indeed stand between them, but it's not Blanche Ingram! Notice that Rochester claims a woman could only qualify as his "bride" if she was also his "equal" and "likeness." He's laying the groundwork for twisting this argument around later in the novel and claiming that a woman who isn't his "likeness" can't be his wife no matter what anyone (even the law) says.

"I have not yet said anything condemnatory of Mr. Rochester's project of marrying for interest and connexions. [...] All their class held these principles: I supposed, then, they had reasons for holding them such as I could not fathom. It seemed to me that, were I a gentleman like him, I would take to my bosom only such a wife as I could love; but the very obviousness of the advantages to the husband's own happiness, offered by this plan, convinced me that there must be arguments against its general adoption of which I was quite ignorant: otherwise I felt sure all the world would act as I wished to act."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: marriage Analysis: Jane doesn't get why anyone would not marry for love, especially if they're rich enough to do pretty much whatever they want, but she figures there must be some reason that so many people who are already wealthy and important insist on marrying to get more money and status instead of to make themselves happy. Notice that Jane doesn't talk about her own ideas about marriage—only the ideas that she would have if she were in Rochester's place. Somehow Jane can't conceive of herself needing to make a choice about marrying for love or status—only of a man like Rochester doing so.

"I saw he was going to marry her, for family, perhaps political reasons; because her rank and connexions suited him; I felt he had not given her his love, and that her qualifications were ill adapted to win from him that treasure. This was the point—this was where the nerve was touched and teazed—this was where the fever was sustained and fed: she could not charm him."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: marriage Analysis: Jane is really hot and bothered by the idea that Rochester is going to marry Blanche, not just because she's jealous, but also because she can tell that they are so unsuited and that Rochester himself knows exactly how flawed and unpleasant Blanche is. Jane herself knows exactly how to "charm" Rochester, how to argue with him and keep him amused and even how to make him love her. Basically, the way Jane feels here is the way we feel when we see someone doing something badly that we know how to do well. She wants to take Rochester away and show Blanche how this relationship should be done—but she can't. She has to watch and suffer in silence, as usual.

""That is my wife," said he. "Such is the sole conjugal embrace I am ever to know—such are the endearments which are to solace my leisure hours! And this is what I wished to have" (laying his hand on my shoulder): "this young girl, who stands so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell, looking collectedly at the gambols of a demon. I wanted her just as a change after that fierce ragout. Wood and Briggs, look at the difference! Compare these clear eyes with the red balls yonder—this face with that mask—this form with that bulk; then judge me, priest of the Gospel and man of the law, and remember, with what judgement ye judge ye shall be judged!""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: marriage Analysis: Rochester has admitted that he was trying to commit bigamy, but the weird part is that we kind of sympathize with him. The contrast between Bertha, the wild and crazy vampire-ish woman, and plain little Jane, the "Quakerish governess," really makes us understand what Rochester is saying: Bertha's really not playing the role of a wife in his life, so why shouldn't he be allowed to marry Jane, especially because she's so awesome? Then we stop for a minute and think, whoa, we're not exactly on board with this, because it's not really fair to Jane. But we do feel bad for the guy.

"He is not to them what he is to me," I thought: "he is not of their kind. I believe he is of mine;—I am sure he is,—I feel akin to him,—I understand the language of his countenance and movements: though rank and wealth sever us widely, I have something in my brain and heart, in my blood and nerves, that assimilates me mentally to him. [...] I must, then, repeat continually that we are for ever sundered:—and yet, while I breathe and think I must love him."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: marriage Analysis: Seeing Rochester among his high-class houseguests, Jane realizes that he has more in common with her than he does with them. Despite Jane's and Rochester's different class backgrounds, their master-servant relationship, and the strict gender roles of Victorian society, Jane can tell that they share something intangible—but she doubts that they can overcome all the social obstacles keeping them apart. This isn't the first time Jane has felt affection for someone—but it may be the first time she's felt like somebody else.

""It is strange," pursued he, "that while I love Rosamond Oliver so wildly—with all the intensity, indeed, of a first passion, the object of which is exquisitely beautiful, graceful, fascinating—I experience at the same time a calm, unwarped consciousness that she would not make me a good wife; that she is not the partner suited to me; that I should discover this within a year after marriage; and that to twelve months' rapture would succeed a lifetime of regret. This I know.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: marriage Analysis: St. John's radical separation of his emotional attachment to Rosamond from his calm, collected assessment of what a good wife should be sounds fairly rational at first—and really similar, in some ways, to Jane's rejection of Rochester. But something's bothering us about it. Oh, right, it's the implication that he's (someday) going to marry a woman he doesn't love. On purpose. Now that's just masochistic.

"Consent, then, to his demand is possible: but for one item—one dreadful item. It is—that he asks me to be his wife, and has no more of a husband's heart for me than that frowning giant of a rock, down which the stream is foaming in yonder gorge. He prizes me as a soldier would a good weapon; and that is all. Unmarried to him, this would never grieve me; but can I let him complete his calculations—coolly put into practice his plans—go through the wedding ceremony? Can I receive from him the bridal ring, endure all the forms of love (which I doubt not he would scrupulously observe) and know that the spirit was quite absent? Can I bear the consciousness that every endearment he bestows is a sacrifice made on principle? No: such a martyrdom would be monstrous. I will never undergo it. As his sister, I might accompany him—not as his wife: I will tell him so."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: marriage Analysis: The (imaginary, thank goodness) spectacle of St. John forcing himself to have sex with Jane even though he doesn't love her and she doesn't love him is nauseating. Clearly, a marriage can't be conducted simply based on a rational analysis of which people are compatible as "help-meets." St. John's legalistic ideas about marriage make Rochester's fast-and-loose proposals look positively squeaky-clean by comparison.

""What tale do you like best to hear?" "Oh, I have not much choice! They generally run on the same theme —courtship; and promise to end in the same catastrophe—marriage." "And do you like that monotonous theme?" "Positively, I don't care about it: it is nothing to me.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: marriage Analysis: You remember what's going on here, right? Rochester, disguised as the old gypsy woman, is trying to get Jane to admit that she's in love with him. (Go back and read the summary of Volume 2, Chapter 4 if you have no idea what we're talking about.) The real question here is, do we believe Jane's claim that marriage is "nothing" to her and that she doesn't care about it? We already know that she's in love with Rochester, but we also know that she thinks that relationship isn't going anywhere.

"Nature meant me to be, on the whole, a good man, Miss Eyre: one of the better end; and you see I am not so. [...] Then take my word for it,—I am not a villain: you are not to suppose that—not to attribute to me any such bad eminence; but, owing, I verily believe, rather to circumstances than to my natural bent, I am a trite common-place sinner, hackneyed in all the poor petty dissipations with which the rich and worthless try to put on life."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: morality and ethics Analysis: Before Jane even really knows Rochester, he's claiming he's really not that bad a guy. We think the gentleman doth protest too much.

"If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should—so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again. [...] I must dislike those who, whatever I do to please them, persist in disliking me; I must resist those who punish me unjustly. It is as natural as that I should love those who show me affection, or submit to punishment when I feel it is deserved."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: morality and ethics Analysis: Here Jane is responding to Helen Burns, who argues that you should "return good for evil," "turn the other cheek," "love your enemies," and all that sort of good Christian forgiveness stuff. Jane (remember she's only ten at this point) can't quite agree with this; she doesn't see any reason to "bless them that curse you," because then they'll get away with it! Jane's childhood ideas of justice are strict and exact—more like the Old Testament "eye for an eye" laws of retaliation than Helen's New Testament charity. It'll be interesting to see whether Jane's ideas change over time and, if so, exactly how.

""If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends." "No: I know I should think well of myself; but that is not enough: if others don't love me, I would rather die than live—I cannot bear to be solitary and hated, Helen.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: morality and ethics Analysis: Jane's convinced that she wouldn't be able to stick to her moral guns (so to speak) if doing so meant that she was alone and friendless. Wouldn't it be so weird if that was exactly what she had to learn to do by the end of the novel?

"Some time in the afternoon I raised my head, and looking round and seeing the western sun gilding the sign of its decline on the wall, I asked, "What am I to do?" But the answer my mind gave—"Leave Thornfield at once"—was so prompt, so dread, that I stopped my ears. I said I could not bear such words now. "That I am not Edward Rochester's bride is the least part of my woe," I alleged: "that I have wakened out of most glorious dreams, and found them all void and vain, is a horror I could bear and master; but that I must leave him decidedly, instantly, entirely, is intolerable. I cannot do it." But, then, a voice within me averred that I could do it and foretold that I should do it. I wrestled with my own resolution: I wanted to be weak that I might avoid the awful passage of further suffering I saw laid out for me; and Conscience, turned tyrant, held Passion by the throat, told her tauntingly, she had yet but dipped her dainty foot in the slough, and swore that with that arm of iron he would thrust her down to unsounded depths of agony."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: morality and ethics Analysis: Jane's moment of great ethical crisis turns (in her mind, at least) into an allegorical scene in which Conscience and Passion start brawling, and Conscience is the bully. It's interesting that Jane knows immediately and certainly what is morally right in this situation—what's difficult isn't to know what she has to do, but to make herself do it.

"I see genuine contentment in your gait and mien, your eye and face, when you are helping me and pleasing me—working for me, and with me, in, as you characteristically say, 'all that is right:' for if I bid you do what you thought wrong, there would be no light-footed running, no neat-handed alacrity, no lively glance and animated complexion. My friend would then turn to me, quiet and pale, and would say, 'No, sir; that is impossible: I cannot do it, because it is wrong;' and would become immutable as a fixed star. Well, you too have power over me, and may injure me: yet I dare not show you where I am vulnerable, lest, faithful and friendly as you are, you should transfix me at once."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: morality and ethics Analysis: Later in the novel, Rochester's going to do his best to convince Jane to do something that she thinks is wrong, but notice that at this much earlier stage he already knows she's not the kind of person who can be convinced of something she disagrees with. Also, this passage suggests that, even though Jane kind of gets a kick out of being Rochester's servant, she won't obey just any order.

"[S]uppose you were no longer a girl well reared and disciplined, but a wild boy indulged from childhood upwards; imagine yourself in a remote foreign land; conceive that you there commit a capital error, no matter of what nature or from what motives, but one whose consequences must follow you through life and taint all your existence. Mind, I don't say a crime; I am not speaking of shedding of blood or any other guilty act, which might make the perpetrator amenable to the law: my word is error. The results of what you have done become in time to you utterly insupportable; you take measures to obtain relief: unusual measures, but neither unlawful nor culpable. Still you are miserable; for hope has quitted you on the very confines of life: your sun at noon darkens in an eclipse, which you feel will not leave it till the time of setting. Bitter and base associations have become the sole food of your memory: you wander here and there, seeking rest in exile: happiness in pleasure—I mean in heartless, sensual pleasure—such as dulls intellect and blights feeling. Heart-weary and soul-withered, you come home after years of voluntary banishment: you make a new acquaintance—how or where no matter: you find in this stranger much of the good and bright qualities which you have sought for twenty years, and never before encountered; and they are all fresh, healthy, without soil and without taint. Such society revives, regenerates: you feel better days come back—higher wishes, purer feelings; you desire to recommence your life, and to spend what remains to you of days in a way more worthy of an immortal being. To attain this end, are you justified in overleaping an obstacle of custom—a mere conventional impediment which neither your conscience sanctifies nor your judgment approves?"

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: morality and ethics Analysis: No matter how long and sad the story is, we can tell that Rochester's trying to trick us into saying "yes," and so can Jane. When we find out that what he's calling a "mere conventional impediment" is the law against bigamy, well, the trick's just a lot more obvious then. Still, his story does inspire a lot of sympathy.

""Now for the hitch in Jane's character," he said at last, speaking more calmly than from his look I had expected him to speak. "The reel of silk has run smoothly enough so far; but I always knew there would come a knot and a puzzle: here it is. Now for vexation, and exasperation, and endless trouble! By God! I long to exert a fraction of Samson's strength, and break the entanglement like tow!""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: morality and ethics Analysis: Rochester sure gets compared to Samson a lot—you'll really have to check out that reference in the "Allusions" section. And, as usual, Rochester is shuffling around names and labels for things in order to try to change our attitudes toward them—that "hitch in Jane's character" is actually her morality.

""Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre: remorse is the poison of life." "Repentance is said to be its cure, sir." "It is not its cure. Reformation may be its cure; and I could reform—I have strength yet for that—if—but where is the use of thinking of it, hampered, burdened, cursed as I am? Besides, since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life: and I will get it, cost what it may.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: morality and ethics Analysis: The difference between "repentance" and "reform" is important here. Jane thinks it's enough to repent —to feel bad for what you've done. Rochester thinks that's not enough and that you actually need to reform—to actively change your ways. We'll be watching through the rest of the novel to figure out which of them the text supports.

""You seem to doubt me; I don't doubt myself: I know what my aim is, what my motives are; and at this moment I pass a law, unalterable as that of the Medes and Persians, that both are right." "They cannot be, sir, if they require a new statute to legalize them." "They are, Miss Eyre, though they absolutely require a new statute: unheard-of combinations of circumstances demand unheard-of rules." "That sounds a dangerous maxim, sir; because one can see at once that it is liable to abuse.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: morality and ethics Analysis: The rules say Rochester is doing something wrong, so he's out to change the rules. We don't know what the thing is that he wants to get away with, but we're suspicious already.

"The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: morality and ethics Analysis: When Rochester tries to claim that Jane can reject conventional morality because she doesn't have any family around to be offended by her decision, she realizes how much more important it is to do the right thing when you are alone in the world.

"She again regarded me with a surprised stare. "I believe," she said, "I was quite mista'en in my thoughts of you: but there is so mony cheats goes about, you mun forgie me." "And though," I continued, rather severely, "you wished to turn me from the door, on a night when you should not have shut out a dog." "Well, it was hard: but what can a body do? I thought more o' th' childer nor of mysel: poor things! They've like nobody to tak' care on 'em but me. I'm like to look sharpish." I maintained a grave silence for some minutes. "You munnut think too hardly of me," she again remarked. "But I do think hardly of you," I said; "and I'll tell you why—not so much because you refused to give me shelter, or regarded me as an impostor, as because you just now made it a species of reproach that I had no "brass," and no house. Some of the best people that ever lived have been as destitute as I am; and if you are a Christian, you ought not to consider poverty a crime.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: society and class Analysis: As a child Jane thought poverty absolutely horrible and wouldn't even consider living with poor relatives even if they were kind and hard-working people. Now, she's able to teach Hannah, from her own experience, that your moral character and your bank account (or lack of one) are completely different things.

"You have nothing to do with the master of Thornfield, further than to receive the salary he gives you for teaching his protégée, and to be grateful for such respectful and kind treatment as, if you do your duty, you have a right to expect at his hands. Be sure that is the only tie he seriously acknowledges between you and him: so don't make him the object of your fine feelings, your raptures, agonies, and so forth. He is not of your order: keep to your caste; and be too self-respecting to lavish the love of the whole heart, soul, and strength, where such a gift is not wanted and would be despised."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: society and class Analysis: Here Jane's trying to sort out her relationship to Rochester, and it's a lot harder because she's developed several different relationships to him that aren't entirely compatible. She's reminding herself that (1) she's his employee, (2) she's lower-class than he is, and (3) he hasn't necessarily shown a serious romantic interest in her. But that highly rational assessment really doesn't cover the instant connection they made in the forest on their first meeting, when he leaned on her shoulder to limp back to his horse and she began taking care of him.

"There are people who seem to have no notion of sketching a character, or observing and describing salient points, either in persons or things: the good lady evidently belonged to this class; my queries puzzled, but did not draw her out. Mr. Rochester was Mr. Rochester in her eyes; a gentleman, a landed proprietor—nothing more: she inquired and searched no further, and evidently wondered at my wish to gain a more definite notion of his identity."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: society and class Analysis: Jane is frustrated that Mrs. Fairfax can only tell her Mr. Rochester's station in life instead of what kind of person he actually is. In fact, Mrs. Fairfax—like some people we could name—can't tell the difference between status and character, and assumes that describing him as "a gentleman" is enough. But Jane has met gentlemen like Mr. Brocklehurst, and she knows that the fact that he owns land and a house and keeps servants doesn't really tell her anything about what kind of person Rochester is. She'll have to figure that out on her own.

"Poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children: they have not much idea of industrious, working, respectable poverty; they think of the world only as connected with ragged clothes, scanty food, fireless grates, rude manners, and debasing vices: poverty for me was synonymous with degradation."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: society and class Analysis: Jane would refuse to live with poor relatives, even if she had any and they were loving, because the Reeds have taught her that poverty is always accompanied by immorality and unpleasantness. It's going to take Jane some time to realize that wealthy people can easily be just as degraded as poor ones—or more so.

"Bessie answered not; but ere long, addressing me, she said,— "You ought to be aware, Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house." I had nothing to say to these words: they were not new to me: my very first recollections of existence included hints of the same kind. This reproach of my dependence had become a vague sing-song in my ear; very painful and crushing, but only half intelligible."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: society and class Analysis: Jane's early life includes constant reminders that she's poor, that she's alone, and that even her aunt and cousins consider her lower-class than they are because she won't inherit any money. Thinking of herself as beneath others, even those in the same household with her, is a habit that she learns from the very beginning.

""A new servitude! There is something in that," I soliloquized (mentally, be it understood; I did not talk aloud). "I know there is, because it does not sound too sweet; it is not like such words as Liberty, Excitement, Enjoyment: delightful sounds truly; but no more than sounds for me; and so hollow and fleeting that it is mere waste of time to listen to them. But Servitude! That must be matter of fact. Any one may serve: I have served here eight years; now all I want is to serve elsewhere.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: society and class Analysis: Jane's keeping it real here: she knows that she can't just up and leave Lowood and be the Queen of England tomorrow. (Besides, that job is taken, and Victoria's not going anywhere.) Instead of wanting complete freedom from all responsibilities, she just wants new responsibilities. She's accepted that she's just a peon, and all she's asking for is a change of scenery. So her new job really isn't any kind of class or status change—just a transfer.

"I am so glad you are come; it will quite pleasant living here now with a companion. To be sure it is pleasant at any time; for Thornfield is a fine old hall, rather neglected of late years perhaps, but still it is a respectable place; yet you know in winter time, one feels dreary quite alone, in the best quarters. I say alone—Leah is a nice girl to be sure, and John and his wife are very decent people; but then you see they are only servants, and one can't converse with them on terms of equality: one must keep them at due distance, for fear of losing one's authority."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: society and class Analysis: Mrs. Fairfax is glad to have Jane at Thornfield because they'll be able to socialize together. Later in this chapter, we'll learn that Mrs. Fairfax is the housekeeper and household manager for Thornfield; as such, she is above the regular servants but below the master of the house, and there's hardly anyone she can talk to without compromising her position. It's a little bit like being a camp counselor: you're living with the people you're in charge of, but you can't start hanging out with them or they won't do what you say anymore. You can only hang out with the other camp counselors.

""You should hear mama on the chapter of governesses: Mary and I have had, I should think, a dozen at least in our day; half of them detestable and the rest ridiculous, and all incubi—were they not, mama?" "Did you speak, my own?" The young lady thus claimed as the dowager's special property, reiterated her question with an explanation. "My dearest, don't mention governesses; the word makes me nervous. I have suffered a martyrdom from their incompetency and caprice; I thank Heaven I have now done with them!" Mrs. Dent here bent over to the pious lady, and whispered something in her ear; I suppose from the answer elicited, it was a reminder that one of the anathematized race was present."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: society and class Analysis: Thought #1: If Blanche Ingram were alive today she'd have been cast in Mean Girls. Thought #2: Ranting about the lower classes right in front of them shows who's really low-class. Thought #3: Class and race seem to be getting a bit mixed up here... that's interesting. It's like someone took all their prejudices and swirled them together in a blender, and now Jane has to drink it. (Gross.)

""The fact is, once for all, I don't wish to treat you like an inferior: that is (correcting himself), I claim only such superiority as must result from twenty years' difference in age and a century's advance in experience." [...] "I don't think, sir, you have a right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have—your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: society and class Analysis: Try that one on a teacher (or parent, or boss) next time they tell you they know better just because they're older and have more experience than you do.

""You are my little friend, are you not?" "I like to serve you, sir, and to obey you in all that is right.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: society and class Analysis: You can't forget that, whatever else is going on between Jane and Rochester, they're never really equals. One of their first big conversations is an argument about whether Jane is going to let Rochester order her around and why she should, and he only wins the argument because she helps him. And remember: Jane likes to call Mr. Rochester her "master." Yeah, it's a little weird, but Jane, like Kate at the end of The Taming of the Shrew, knows that you can actually be in charge by seeming like you're not in charge. If you're really good at that kind of thing.

"Well has Solomon said:—"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." I would not now have exchanged Lowood with all its privations, for Gateshead and its daily luxuries."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the home Analysis: Despite the fact that she doesn't get enough to eat at Lowood and can be mocked and maligned by Mr. Brocklehurst, Jane prefers it to the red velvet curtains and cruelty of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead. Home, for Jane, isn't just a roof over her head; it's being accepted for who she is and having the opportunity to better herself.

"I touched the heath: it was dry, and yet warm with the heat of the summer day. I looked at the sky; it was pure: a kindly star twinkled just above the chasm ridge. The dew fell, but with propitious softness; no breeze whispered. Nature seemed to me benign and good; I thought she loved me, outcast as I was; and I, who from man could anticipate only mistrust, rejection, insult, clung to her with filial fondness. To-night, at least, I would be her guest, as I was her child: my mother would lodge me without money and without price."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the home Analysis: For at least a little while, Jane returns to the home that we can find in Nature—it's almost like a garden-of-Eden thing. It also strikes us that going out onto the moors and trusting that Nature will care for you has an Israelites-in-the-wilderness feel. Jane even finds some manna—okay, berries, but close enough. Unfortunately, hunger will drive her back to "civilization" and houses.

"Thank you, Mr. Rochester, for your great kindness. I am strangely glad to get back again to you; and wherever you are is my home,—my only home."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the home Analysis: Given the way Jane doesn't seem to connect to places, but to people and the way they do or don't allow her to be herself, it's not surprising that her "home" is established in terms of companionship.

"Probably, if I had lately left a good home and kind parents, this would have been the hour when I should most keenly have regretted the separation: that wind would then have saddened my heart; this obscure chaos would have disturbed my peace: as it was I derived from both a strange excitement, and reckless and feverish, I wished the wind to howl more wildly, the gloom to deepen to darkness, and the confusion to rise to glamour."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the home Analysis: Jane claims that, because she came from an unpleasant home where she felt unwelcome, she is excited rather than depressed by her situation at Lowood, symbolized here by the windy chaos outside the window. We're not sure, however, if we should believe her; even though her life at Gateshead was unpleasant, any change is distressing, especially for a child, and maybe she is mourning for the home she had before, even if it wasn't too great. Jane's first comment on her homelessness makes us realize that she's not always a completely honest narrator, and we might have to dig deep to figure out her real feelings.

"How people feel when they are returning home from an absence, long or short, I did not know: I had never experienced the sensation. I had known what it was to come back to Gateshead when a child, after a long walk—to be scolded for looking cold or gloomy; and later, what it was to come back from church to Lowood—to long for a plenteous meal and a good fire, and to be unable to get either. Neither of these returnings were very pleasant or desirable: no magnet drew me to a given point, increasing in its strength of attraction the nearer I came. The return to Thornfield was yet to be tried."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the home Analysis: Jane has done plenty of going back to places, but not much actual going home. She's never felt connected to a place, which is strange because there are only three places she remembers living. Perhaps returning to Thornfield will feel different; it's possible that Jane has finally found the home she never had. It's also interesting that she thinks she'll only be able to tell what feels like home after leaving it and returning. In this novel, being away from home is the thing that makes it possible to know what home is.

"I skirted fields, and hedges, and lanes till after sunrise. I believe it was a lovely summer morning: I know my shoes, which I had put on when I left the house, were soon wet with dew. But I looked neither to rising sun, nor smiling sky, nor wakening nature. He who is taken out to pass through a fair scene to the scaffold, thinks not of the flowers that smile on his road, but of the block and axe-edge; of the disseverment of bone and vein; of the grave gaping at the end: and I thought of drear flight and homeless wandering—and oh! with agony I thought of what I left."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the home Analysis: Jane's most courageous moral decision takes the form of abandoning the home she has found for herself with Rochester. Her decision to become homeless means that she is physically unmoored—but ethically grounded.

"On a dark, misty, raw morning in January, I had left a hostile roof with a desperate and embittered heart—a sense of outlawry and almost of reprobation—to seek the chilly harbourage of Lowood: that bourne so far away and unexplored. The same hostile roof now again rose before me: my prospects were doubtful yet; and I had yet an aching heart. I still felt as a wanderer on the face of the earth; but I experienced firmer trust in myself and my own powers, and less withering dread of oppression. The gaping wound of my wrongs, too, was now quite healed; and the flame of resentment extinguished."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the home Analysis: Returning to Gateshead after she has been at Thornfield for six months and Lowood for eight years before that, Jane doesn't have any sense of homecoming—but at least she no longer feels bitter about her childhood experience with the Reeds. She is able to see her aunt's house again without fear, even though she'll never feel like it was really a home.

""You think so now," rejoined St. John, "because you do not know what it is to possess, nor consequently to enjoy wealth: you cannot form a notion of the importance twenty thousand pounds would give you; of the place it would enable you to take in society; of the prospects it would open to you: you cannot—" "And you," I interrupted, "cannot at all imagine the craving I have for fraternal and sisterly love. I never had a home, I never had brothers or sisters; I must and will have them now: you are not reluctant to admit me and own me, are you?""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the home Analysis: So what would you do if you won the lottery? Move into a small house with three of your cousins so that you had somewhere to call home? Yeah, we didn't think so. But that's what Jane wants to do.

"My home, then, when I at last find a home,—is a cottage; a little room with whitewashed walls and a sanded floor, containing four painted chairs and a table, a clock, a cupboard, with two or three plates and dishes, and a set of tea-things in delf. Above, a chamber of the same dimensions as the kitchen, with a deal bedstead and chest of drawers; small, yet too large to be filled with my scanty wardrobe: though the kindness of my gentle and generous friends has increased that, by a modest stock of such things as are necessary."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the home Analysis: This is the first (and only) time in Jane Eyre that Jane actually has a little house all to herself that she can call home, and it won't last very long.

""And what business have you here?" she continued. "It is not your place. Mary and I sit in the kitchen sometimes, because at home we like to be free, even to license—but you are a visitor, and must go into the parlour.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the home Analysis: You know how, at parties, everyone always ends up in the kitchen, even if you put all the food and drinks in the living room? That's what Jane did here—ended up in the kitchen because it seems like that's where the action is. Diana's trying to be kind by suggesting Jane go into the parlor, which implies that Jane is being treated as a high-class visitor, but actually she's just reminding Jane of her own homelessness and the way she doesn't belong at Moor House.

""I have been with my aunt, sir, who is dead." "A true Janian reply! Good angels be my guard! She comes from the other world—from the abode of people who are dead; and tells me so when she meets me alone here in the gloaming! If I dared, I'd touch you, to see if you are substance or shadow, you elf!—but I'd as soon offer to take hold of a blue ignis fatuus light in a marsh.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the supernatural Analysis: As usual Rochester is exaggerating quite a bit, but his suggestion that Jane is able to move between different worlds in a strange and uncanny way seems just about right. After all, Gateshead, Lowood, and Thornfield have practically been different planets. (An ignis fatuus, or "false fire," is a little light you see in the distance when you're lost in a swamp, but it turns out to be swamp gas on fire or something like that instead of a lamp in a cottage that could lead you to safety. Ironically, later in the novel, Jane finds Moor House by following a light that she thinks is an ignis fatuus, but it turns out to be a lamp in a cottage.)

""No wonder you have rather the look of another world. I marvelled where you had got that sort of face. When you came upon me in Hay Lane last night, I thought unaccountably of fairy tales, and had half a mind to demand whether you had bewitched my horse: I am not sure yet. Who are your parents?" "I have none." "Nor ever had, I suppose: do you remember them?" "No." "I thought not. And so you were waiting for your people when you sat on that stile? "For whom, sir?" "For the men in green: it was a proper moonlight evening for them. Did I break through one of your rings, that you spread that damned ice on the causeway?" I shook my head. "The men in green all forsook England a hundred years ago," said I, speaking as seriously as he had done. "And not even in Hay Lane or the fields about it could you find a trace of them. I don't think either summer or harvest, or winter moon, will ever shine on their revels more.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the supernatural Analysis: At Jane's second meeting with Rochester, he accuses her, playfully, of being a fairy or a sprite who enchanted his horse and caused the accident in which he sprained his ankle. Jane isn't about to be outdone and banters with him readily and quick-wittedly, seeming to take fairy tales as seriously as he himself is pretending to do. Although Jane's unearthly fairy qualities are mostly a joke here, there is definitely something strange and uncanny about her quiet demeanor, plain dress, and strong personality. Rochester has met his match—and she is a little bit eerie.

""It was a fairy, and come from Elf-land, it said; and its errand was to make me happy: I must go with it out of the common world to a lonely place—such as the moon, for instance—and it nodded its head towards her horn, rising over Hay-hill: it told me of the alabaster cave and silver vale where we might live. I said I should like to go; but reminded it, as you did me, that I had no wings to fly. "'Oh,' returned the fairy, 'that does not signify! Here is a talisman will remove all difficulties;' and she held out a pretty gold ring. 'Put it,' she said, 'on the fourth finger of my left hand, and I am yours, and you are mine; and we shall leave earth, and make our own heaven yonder.' She nodded again at the moon. The ring, Adèle, is in my breeches-pocket, under the disguise of a sovereign: but I mean soon to change it to a ring again." "But what has mademoiselle to do with it? I don't care for the fairy: you said it was mademoiselle you would take to the moon?" "Mademoiselle is a fairy," he said, whispering mysteriously."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the supernatural Analysis: Even Adèle, who is less than ten years old, thinks this fairy tale of Rochester's is ridiculous, but we think it might be just a little bit important that he uses a fanciful story about a magical flight to the moon as metaphors for marrying Jane. Rochester expects his marriage to Jane to be a quick fix: he'll marry her, and as soon as they've got their wedding rings on, she'll transport him into another world and all their problems will be over. Yeah, not in this novel, buster.

"All the house was still; for I believe all, except St. John and myself, were now retired to rest. The one candle was dying out: the room was full of moonlight. My heart beat fast and thick: I heard its throb. Suddenly it stood still to an inexpressible feeling that thrilled it through, and passed at once to my head and extremities. The feeling was not like an electric shock, but it was quite as sharp, as strange, as startling: it acted on my senses as if their utmost activity hitherto had been but torpor, from which they were now summoned and forced to wake. They rose expectant: eye and ear waited while the flesh quivered on my bones. "What have you heard? What do you see?" asked St. John. I saw nothing, but I heard a voice somewhere cry— "Jane! Jane! Jane!"—nothing more. "O God! what is it?" I gasped. I might have said, "Where is it?" for it did not seem in the room—nor in the house—nor in the garden; it did not come out of the air—nor from under the earth—nor from overhead. I had heard it—where, or whence, for ever impossible to know! And it was the voice of a human being—a known, loved, well-remembered voice—that of Edward Fairfax Rochester; and it spoke in pain and woe, wildly, eerily, urgently."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the supernatural Analysis: If you want to impress your teacher, you should refer to this as a moment of "clairaudience," which means psychically hearing things that are far away. (Get it? Like "clairvoyance," only that's for seeing things that are far away.) And we'll point out again, just in case you missed it in the "What's Up With the Title?" section, that Jane's last name can be pronounced "ear," like the things on the side of your head. So, special qualities of listening and hearing, plus an uber-special connection to Mr. Rochester, seem to make Jane clairaudient at this moment.

""It seemed, sir, a woman, tall and large, with thick and dark hair hanging long down her back. I know not what dress she had on: it was white and straight; but whether gown, sheet, or shroud, I cannot tell." "Did you see her face?" "Not at first. But presently she took my veil from its place; she held it up, gazed at it long, and then she threw it over her own head, and turned to the mirror. At that moment I saw the reflection of the visage and features quite distinctly in the dark oblong glass." "And how were they?" "Fearful and ghastly to me—oh, sir, I never saw a face like it! It was a discoloured face—it was a savage face. I wish I could forget the roll of the red eyes and the fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments!" "Ghosts are usually pale, Jane." "This, sir, was purple: the lips were swelled and dark; the brow furrowed: the black eyebrows widely raised over the bloodshot eyes. Shall I tell you of what it reminded me?" "You may." "Of the foul German spectre—the Vampyre.""

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the supernatural Analysis: Is Bertha a vampire? Let's go through our Handy Vampire Checklist. Is Bertha a "blood relative" of Count Dracula? No. Does she sleep in a coffin during daylight hours? No. Is she a good candidate for villain on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Maybe. Does she suck blood? Yes! Does she drain the life out of the people around her? Yes! Would a stake through the heart kill her? Yes, but it would kill you too and we're guessing you're not a vampire. So, it's complicated. (For more on this quote from a different thematic perspective, check out Quote #5 in the "Foreignness and 'The Other'" section.)

"The laugh was repeated in its low, syllabic tone, and terminated in an odd murmur. "Grace!" exclaimed Mrs. Fairfax. I really did not expect any Grace to answer; for the laugh was as tragic, as preternatural a laugh as any I ever heard; and, but that it was high noon, and that no circumstances of ghostliness accompanied the curious cachination; but that neither scene nor season favoured fear, I should have been superstitiously afraid. However, the event showed me I was a fool for entertaining even a sense of surprise. The door nearest me opened, and a servant came out,—a woman of between thirty and forty; a set, square-made figure, red-haired, and with a hard, plain face: any apparition less romantic or less ghostly could scarcely be conceived."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the supernatural Analysis: Jane seems almost eager to find a ghost in the attic of Thornfield—or maybe she's just a bit paranoid because of her experience with what might have been, or seemed like, her Uncle Reed's ghost. However, her first attempt to find something creepy in the attic is unsuccessful—all she finds is a stout, middle-aged, red-headed servant. Not very eerie, that one. Jane Eyre the novel—and Jane Eyre the narrator—will continually tease us with things that seem spooky but turn out to be extremely plain. It's the suspense that occurs in between the suspicion of the supernatural and the revelation of the rational that makes the novel so exciting. Why does Jane keep looking for the supernatural? Why does the novel keep finding ways to explain away things that seem supernatural?

"Shaking my hair from my eyes, I lifted my head and tried to look boldly round the dark room: at this moment a light gleamed on the wall. Was it, I asked myself, a ray from the moon penetrating some aperture in the blind? No; moonlight was still, and this stirred; while I gazed, it glided up to the ceiling and quivered over my head. I can now conjecture readily that this streak of light was, in all likelihood, a gleam from a lantern, carried by some one across the lawn: but then, prepared as my mind was for horror, shaken as my nerves were by agitation, I thought the swift-darting beam was a herald of some coming vision from another world. My heart beat thick, my head grew hot; a sound filled my ears, which I deemed the rushing of wings: something seemed near me; I was oppressed, suffocated: endurance broke down—I uttered a wild, involuntary cry—I rushed to the door and shook the lock in a desperate effort."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the supernatural Analysis: What actually happens to Jane during her traumatic experience in the red room is somewhat ambiguous. The older, more experienced Jane who is narrating the story is ready to find a rational explanation for the strange light that she saw as a child; the child Jane is convinced that this light is the beginning of the manifestation of Mr. Reed's ghost. What is clear is that Jane panics before the question can be resolved—the anticipation of seeing the ghost is itself the trauma, and, as Jane will tell us, her nerves never really recover from this shock.

"Returning, I had to cross before the looking-glass; my fascinated glance involuntarily explored the depth it revealed. All looked colder and darker in that visionary hollow than in reality: and the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom, and glittering eyes of fear moving where all else was still, had the effect of a real spirit: I thought it like one of the tiny phantoms, half fairy, half imp, Bessie's evening stories represented as coming out of lone, ferny dells in moors, and appearing before the eyes of belated travelers."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the supernatural Analysis: When Jane sees herself in the mirror as a child, she sees herself as something uncanny—perhaps a ghost or a fairy, something out of the kind of tales her nursemaid tells her by the fireside. If even Jane perceives herself as unnatural, it's not surprising that Rochester is going to be continually disconcerted by her.

"Then my own thoughts worried me. What crime was this that lived incarnate in this sequestered mansion, and could neither be expelled nor subdued by the owner?—what mystery, that broke out now in fire and now in blood, at the deadest hours of night? What creature was it, that, masked in an ordinary woman's face and shape, uttered the voice, now of a mocking demon, and anon of a carrion-seeking bird of prey?"

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the supernatural Analysis: Whoa, suddenly we're reading a Gothic novel! There's a secret and unnamable crime at Thornfield that can't be solved for mysterious reasons! Of course, we'll find out that it is a human woman—we won't call her ordinary—behind the arson and the bite wounds at Thornfield, not a demon or a vampire. The most disturbing part of the story is that this terrible crime isn't supernatural—just unnatural.

"Presentiments are strange things! and so are sympathies; and so are signs; and the three combined make one mystery to which humanity has not yet found the key. I never laughed at presentiments in my life, because I have had strange ones of my own. Sympathies, I believe, exist (for instance, between far-distant, long-absent, wholly estranged relatives asserting, notwithstanding their alienation, the unity of the source to which each traces his origin) whose workings baffle mortal comprehension. And signs, for aught we know, may be but the sympathies of Nature with man."

Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Theme: the supernaturals Analysis: Foreshadowing's a strange thing too, and so is symbolism, and so are little hints from the author about supernatural tricks she'll use later to bring the main characters back together when they're dozens of miles apart. Erm, what's that called? Yeah, a deus ex machina. This passage is important because it's one of the only moments that Jane actually claims to the reader that she does believe in some kind of supernatural foreknowledge and also a psychic connection between people. Still, Jane suggests that these seemingly supernatural connections may have natural explanations that we just don't know about.

"BALTHASAR sings Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever, One foot in sea and one on shore, To one thing constant never. Then sigh not so, but let them go, And be you blithe and bonny, Converting all your sounds of woe Into Hey, nonny nonny."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: gender Analysis: Balthasar sings that men are faithless dogs, but rather than chide them to be better, Balthasar's song suggests that the remedy lies in women changing their paradigms about men. If women would simply decide to accept that men are awful, then they'd never get hurt by their cheating husbands/lovers (and men could continue to behave badly without any hassle). The notion here is that men should not have to change (a "boys will be boys" idea), women should change (their perspective on men) to accommodate their men.

"BENEDICK Do you question me, as an honest man should do, for my simple true judgment? Or would you have me speak after my custom, as being a professed tyrant to their sex?"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: gender Analysis: Benedick admits that he has a thing against the entire female gender and tends to go on anti-women tirades. However, he notes that he's capable of "simple, true judgment" of particular women, which isn't necessarily touched by his general woman-hating spiel. It's interesting that he has two different lenses through which he can view women, while probably only one through which he views men.

"BENEDICK One woman is fair, yet I am well; another is wise, yet I am well; another virtuous, yet I am well; but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise, or I'll none; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen her; fair, or I'll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall be of what color it please God. Ha, the Prince and Monsieur Love! I will hide me in the arbor."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: gender Analysis: Benedick lists off the qualities of an ideal woman; he says he can't be tempted to love any woman unless she has all of womankind's best qualities wrapped up into one. The woman Benedick dreams of is an idealized (and unrealistic) version of women. He must think pretty highly of himself to believe he deserves such a woman. Also, it's interesting here that he doesn't seem to be against the idea of marrying, so long as he'd by wedding a perfect girl. (Thankfully, he grows up and marries Beatrice).

"HERO God give me joy to wear it, for my heart is exceeding heavy."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: gender Analysis: Is it surprising that Hero's not stoked on her wedding day? Not really, considering she's never even really spoken to Claudio as far as we know. In addition, Hero's been told what to do by her father for her whole life, and given what we know about old school marriage, she's about to transition into being told what to do by her husband for the rest of her life. This is a function of her marriage, but it's also a fact of her gender; women held a special role in marriage of being the ones that were taken by their husbands (both literally and figuratively), and that's an awful lot to chew on.

"BENEDICK Surely I do believe your fair cousin is wronged. BEATRICE Ah, how much might the man deserve of me that would right her! BENEDICK Is there any way to show such friendship? BEATRICE A very even way, but no such friend. BENEDICK May a man do it? BEATRICE It is a man's office, but not yours."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: gender Analysis: It's interesting that Beatrice can't enact her plan to avenge her cousin because she's a woman. You might think she would've come up with some scheme she could do herself (because she's so independent and strong-willed), but this seems one of those rare chances when Beatrice admits that she's unable. There's no discussion of why her plan needs to be executed by a man, but even for Beatrice there's an implicit understanding that some work is done by women, and some by men.

"LEONATO Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband. BEATRICE Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust? To make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I'll none. Adam's sons are my brethren, and truly I hold it a sin to match in my kinred."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: gender Analysis: This is a brilliant statement from a gendered point of view. Beatrice first uses "man" in the general sense (as in mankind), but she finally comes around to admitting the gender inequality inherent in marriage. She plays on the notion that all mankind is ashes to ashes dust to dust, so it isn't fitting that a woman should be ruled by a man (who is in the end only dust). The capstone to this deliciously incisive commentary is Beatrice's assertion that all of Adam's sons are her brothers, and she'd commit the sin of incest to marry them. She doesn't actually believe she's a blood-sister with all men—incest is just the easiest way to write off marrying any man. In claiming all Adam's sons as her brothers, and admitting that all humankind is dust together, Beatrice has threaded together the argument that men and women are kindred and equal—they are made of the same material (earth, dust), return to being the same after death, and together they are all God's children. It's a fantastic insight that adds to Beatrice's many reasons for not marrying—she is unwilling to be subservient to one of her equals (a man), which it seems she'd have to do if she were married. (It's particularly juicy that Benedick also worries about giving up his independence and freedom by getting married. Though Beatrice has more cause to worry as far as losing freedom, we're beginning to see Shakespeare draw parallels between the two characters.)

"CLAUDIO Let me but move one question to your daughter, And by that fatherly and kindly power That you have in her, bid her answer truly. LEONATO I charge thee do so, as thou art my child. HERO O, God defend me! How am I beset!— What kind of catechizing call you this?"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: gender Analysis: This is a difficult passage to read, as it's the first instance where Leonato chooses Claudio's word over his daughter's. He demands that Hero answer Claudio's question, indicating that he's already trusting Claudio instead of defending his daughter. Ultimately, this episode is sickening because of our intuition that Leonato's role—because he knows his daughter and her honor—is to stand up for her, not to indulge Claudio in this public spectacle. Hero's reputation is on the line, and in the end, as a woman, her word isn't worth much against a man's. This episode reminds us of the constant cuckoldry jests in the play. Though they were jokes, they seriously refer to the distrust men had for their wives, and we'd bet it also makes them hesitate to stand up for their daughters.

"LEONATO Dear my lord, if you in your own proof Have vanquished the resistance of her youth, And made defeat of her virginity— CLAUDIO I know what you would say: if I have known her, You will say she did embrace me as a husband, And so extenuate the forehand sin. No, Leonato, I never tempted her with word too large, But, as a brother to his sister, showed Bashful sincerity and comely love."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: gender Analysis: This is an important reminder that a woman's virginity was central to making her marriageable in Shakespeare's day. Leonato tries to cover for his child, saying if perhaps Hero gave her virginity to Claudio before the wedding, it was only because she was already thinking of Claudio as her husband. This is a crucial point: while women like Beatrice might be equal to men like Benedick in wit, there were still some areas of gender equality that had not yet been conceived of. A woman's virginity was the crux of her marriage, and her future husband could reject her as worthless without it, no matter how wonderful or brilliant she was.

"BEATRICE Princes and counties! Surely a princely testimony, a goodly count, Count Comfect, a sweet gallant, surely! O, that I were a man for his sake! Or that I had any friend would be a man for my sake! But manhood is melted into curtsies, valor into compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and trim ones, too. He is now as valiant as Hercules that only tells a lie and swears it. I cannot be a man with wishing; therefore I will die a woman with grieving."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: gender Analysis: With Benedick as her only audience, Beatrice berates all men for being complete wimps. If Benedick didn't get the picture before, he does now: Beatrice needs a manly man. Beatrice rails against what manliness has come to in these days of courtly pomp, and it's not a flattering picture. It's interesting that Benedick has spent all this time up to now indulging in similar rantings against all the courtly niceties of love (using Claudio as a prime example). Now that Benedick has fallen in love, he's provided a chance to prove that he's different from other lovers who were transformed by love into sighing idiots (like Claudio). Especially now that Claudio has turned out to be faithless and cruel, Benedick can show that there are different ways to love than the stupid courtly formalities, which he's not good at anyway. This could be Benedick's big break.

"BEATRICE As strange as the thing I know not. It were as possible for me to say I loved nothing so well as you, But believe me not, and yet I lie not, I confess nothing, nor I deny nothing. I am sorry for my cousin."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: Beatrice has just heard Benedick bare his soul. Rather than pouring her heart out to him in return, she stumbles over her words, finally just declaring that she's worried for Hero. This uneasiness is weird for Beatrice—she usually has a perfect quick and cutting reply for everything. It's not clear whether she's unsure of her feelings for Benedick, or is afraid to admit she loves Benedick... or maybe is just really caught up with her cousin's life being ruined.

"BENEDICK Ha! 'Against my will I am sent to bid you come in to dinner.' There's a double meaning in that. 'I took no more pains for those thanks than you took pains to thank me.' That's as much as to say 'Any pains that I take for you is as easy as thanks.' If I do not take pity of her, I am a villain; if I do not love her, I am a Jew. I will go get her picture."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: Benedick convinces himself that there's underlying romantic meaning in Beatrice's words, even when that's obviously not the case. Love has the power to make us see what we want in conversation.

"BENEDICK I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer, but keep your way, i' God's name, I have done. BEATRICE You always end with a jade's trick. I know you of old."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: Benedick drops out of the argument because he can't keep up with Beatrice. The two characters use their language as weapons, but never seem to be able to end or resolve their fights.

"BENEDICK [Sings] The god of love That sits above, And knows me, and knows me, How pitiful I deserve— I mean in singing. But in loving Leander the good swimmer, Troilus the first employer of panders, and a whole book full of these quondam carpetmongers, whose names yet run smoothly in the even road of a blank verse, why, they were never so truly turned over and over as my poor self in love. Marry, I cannot show it in rhyme. I have tried. I can find out no rhyme to 'lady' but 'baby'—an innocent rhyme; for 'scorn,' 'horn'—a hard rhyme; for 'school', 'fool'—a babbling rhyme: very ominous endings. No, I was not born under a rhyming planet, nor cannot woo in festival terms."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: Benedick is poetic in his thinking and speech, but he fails in writing. His references are rich, and all he uses wit to refer to the twisted version of love as presented by epic poetry: Leander was the lover of the mythological Hero (probably the namesake of Leonato's daughter). Leander died by drowning as he was on his way to see his love, swimming across a river to find her. The story is a twisted version of love, and Benedick warps it further by joking that Leander was a good swimmer. Benedick jokes that Troilus is pandering to his love, Cressida, but Cressida betrays him by loving another. Benedick specifically uses "panders" as a pun on Pandarus, Cressida's uncle who originally set the couple up. Finally, "quondam carpet-mongers" (what???) means knights of the old days who avoided military service. It was joked that they earned their keep by lounging around on the court carpets, rather than fighting on the battlefield. These knights exemplify the definitional shift occurring during this time: once, being a gentleman meant being a great warrior, but the term was slowly changing and coming around to signify one who was versed in the arts of the court, including being a great lover (Remember what Beatrice says about manhood in 4.1.319). Ultimately, this all means that Benedick thinks that the guys who wrote epic love poetry were wusses, and though their stories have been immortalized by great poems, they didn't love as deeply as he does. Thus, poetry is nothing when love is true. (Phew!)

"BENEDICK She told me, not thinking I had been myself, that I was the Prince's jester, that I was duller than a great thaw, huddling jest upon jest with such impossible conveyance upon me that I stood like a man at a mark with a whole army shooting at me. She speaks poniards, and every word stabs. If her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her; she would infect to the North Star."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: Benedick is undone by Beatrice's quick tongue before he's undone by his love for her. (Or maybe it's her quick tongue that makes him love her.)

"DOGBERRY Come hither, neighbor Seacoal. [Seacoal steps forward.] God hath blessed you with a good name. To be a well-favored man is the gift of fortune, but to write and read comes by nature. SEACOAL Both which, master constable— DOGBERRY You have. I knew it would be your answer. Well, for your favor, sir, why, give God thanks, and make no boast of it, and for your writing and reading, let that appear when there is no need of such vanity."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: Dogberry bungles his words throughout all of his lines. That he mistakes writing and reading as a sign of vanity is a good introduction to exactly how Dogberry views the world. To him, being a learned man is a good way to show off how refined you are. He attempts to use grandiose speech to convince everyone that's he's a gentleman... even though he doesn't really have a grasp of the vocabulary he employs. Inadvertently, he is correct; reading and writing are not usually things of vanity, but he employs them vainly, and often in vain. (Wordplay!)

"DOGBERRY Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: Dogberry's failure to communicate rests upon his insistence to be overly formal in his speech. He tries to speak in a manner that gives him legitimacy (using the formulas of speech used in court and legal matters). Ironically, his attempts to use formal language undermine his legitimacy. If Dogberry would just speak straight (instead of worrying about his presentation), then the whole confusion leading to Hero's undoing could've been avoided.

"DON JOHN I thank you. I am not of many words, but I thank you."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: Don John doesn't use language as deftly or frequently as the other characters. He speaks little, and speaks straight. You might argue that Don John is a dangerous character because he's guarded with his words. All of the other main characters say an awful lot (even if their meanings are a little veiled). Don John, by not saying much, shows that he is concealing something, and is not to be trusted. It's the "sticks and stones" notion—words can be bandied about easily, and can be forgiven easily too. Don John, however, seems to prefer real harm over intangible words.

"HERO Good Margaret, run thee to the parlor. There shalt thou find my cousin Beatrice Proposing with the prince and Claudio. Whisper her ear and tell her I and Ursula Walk in the orchard and our whole discourse Is all of her. Say that thou overheardst us, And bid her steal into the pleachèd bower Where honeysuckles ripened by the sun Forbid the sun to enter, like favorites Made proud by princes, that advance their pride Against that power that bred it. There will she hide her To listen our purpose. This is thy office. Bear thee well in it and, leave us alone."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: Hero's descriptive language here is some of the only flowery stuff in the play. From this passage we see that Hero's ability in language isn't clever humor, but the ability to find beauty. Just as Beatrice and Benedick's language reflects their sharp nature, Hero's beautiful language reflects her sweetness and gentleness.

"ANTONIO The Prince and Count Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in mine orchard, were thus much overheard by a man of mine: the Prince discovered to Claudio that he loved my niece your daughter and meant to acknowledge it this night in a dance, and if he found her accordant, he meant to take the present time by the top and instantly break with you of it. LEONATO Hath the fellow any wit that told you this?"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: The wires are all crossed here - Antonio's man has misheard or misreported this news. This mishearing turns out to be a minor hiccup compared the graver, and more deliberate "misnotings" in the play. However, it's still significant because it sets the tone for mishearing, misreporting, and generally bad communication to be one of the play's main themes.

"DON JOHN Sir, they are spoken, and these things are true."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: There's something to be said about Don John's language—while everyone else is clearly passionate about the proceedings, and full of words, explanations, and fury—Don John speaks only a single line. His phrase is so simple and forceful that you might almost think it was true—if you didn't know he was a determined villain.

"BENEDICK I have almost matter enough in me for such an embassage, and so I commit you— CLAUDIO To the tuition of God. From my house, if I had it— PEDRO The sixth of July. Your loving friend, Benedick. BENEDICK Nay, mock not, mock not. The body of your discourse is sometime guarded with fragments, and the guards are but slightly basted on neither. Ere you flout old ends any further, examine your conscience. And so I leave you."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: This is important—Benedick is silly an awful lot, but he's aware that the silliness of his language is often just a ruse to hide his more serious thoughts. He's not a shallow jester, but more of a John Oliver type. Being funny is both his armor and weaponry.

"CLAUDIO Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signior Leonato? BENEDICK I noted her not, but I looked on her."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: This is the first of many usages of the word "noting" in the play; Benedick teases that he looked on the girl, but she was unremarkable, so he took no particular notice of her. Language is precise here, and communicates that Benedick has some disdain (maybe not particularly for Hero, but for taking note of women).

"BEATRICE I pray you, is Signior Mountanto returned from the wars or no?"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: language and communication Analysis: Through the play we get used to Beatrice talking with Benedick in a less-than-straightforward way. In this line, she uses a name for Benedick that no one knows. Also, this is Beatrice's first line in the play—it's significant that her first words are a reference to Benedick.

"DON JOHN The word is too good to paint out her wickedness. I could say she were worse. Think you of a worse title, and I will fit her to it. Wonder not till further warrant. Go but with me tonight, you shall see her chamber window entered, even the night before her wedding day. If you love her then, to-morrow wed her. But it would better fit your honor to change your mind."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Again, Don John uses manipulation to plant the seeds of suspicion. He doesn't give any details about Hero's disloyalty; but instead, he just says he'll prove it to them later, and gives them the whole afternoon to imagine the girl's transgressions. What's true is often not as bad as what we can imagine is true, especially if we're lured in by suspicion.

"BEATRICE I have a good eye, uncle; I can see a church by daylight."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Beatrice responds modestly to her Uncle Leonato's compliment that she's an observant girl. Her reply suggests that she's not uncommonly observant, and can only see what's in clear view (like a church— often the tallest building in a town—in daylight). Still, this is a misguiding statement. Beatrice seems to be demurring out of modesty, but we know she actually doesn't see everything. The most obvious example is how she doesn't recognize her strong (positive) feelings for Benedick. Later, Beatrice also misses the fact that she's being manipulated into loving Benedick.

"BENEDICK Do not you love me? BEATRICE Why no, no more than reason. BENEDICK Why then, your uncle and the Prince and Claudio Have been deceived. They swore you did. BEATRICE Do not you love me? BENEDICK Troth, no, no more than reason. BEATRICE Why then, my cousin, Margaret, and Ursula Are much deceived, for they did swear you did. BENEDICK They swore that you were almost sick for me. BEATRICE They swore that you were well-nigh dead for me."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Benedick and Beatrice quip that everyone around them is very deceived about their love for each other, but they're only fooling themselves. (Ooooh!)

"BENEDICK That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she brought me up, I likewise give her most humble thanks. But that I will have a recheat winded in my forehead or hang my bugle in an invisible baldrick, all women shall pardon me. Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the right to trust none. And the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Benedick says his main obstacle to love is that he'll never do a lady the disfavor of mistrusting her. At the same time, he's certain he can't bring himself to trust a lady, so it looks like he'll be ladyless. It's not that he thinks love itself is awful (maybe), but that he finds deception to be inherent to women (and love).

"CLAUDIO Can the world buy such a jewel? BENEDICK Yea, and a case to put it into. But speak you this with a sad brow? Or do you play the flouting Jack, to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder and Vulcan a rare carpenter? Come, in what key shall a man take you to go in the song?"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Benedick, in turn, can't believe that Claudio is really being honest either—he wonders whether Claudio can possibly love this girl—maybe because the young man noticed her just ten minutes ago, maybe because Hero's not attractive.

"BENEDICK Why, i' faith, methinks she's too low for a high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and too little for a great praise. Only this commendation I can afford her, that were she other than she is, she were unhandsome, and being no other but as she is, I do not like her. CLAUDIO Thou thinkest I am in sport. I pray thee tell me truly how thou lik'st her."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Claudio can't accept that Benedick has nothing more to say about Hero than that she's short, dark, and too small. He thinks Benedick is lying about his honest feelings, which supports the notion that Benedick doesn't often say what he thinks. Benedick prefers to deceive humorously over speaking truthfully.

"CLAUDIO How know you he loves her? DON JOHN I heard him swear his affection. BORACHIO So did I too, and he swore he would marry her tonight. DON JOHN Come, let us to the banquet."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Claudio's great failing is that he's easily manipulated into suspicion, which leaves him wide open to be deceived.

"LEONATO Well, daughter, and you gentlewomen all, Withdraw into a chamber by yourselves, And when I send for you, come hither masked."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Deception continues to be used freely even after the entire earlier portion of the play has been fraught with mishaps caused by deception. There's no good reason for Leonato to mask the women and keep up the charade of Hero's death, but he's going to do it anyway. Has no one learned his lesson?!

"DON PEDRO I will teach you how to humor your cousin, that she shall fall in love with Benedick.— and I, with your two helps, will so practice on Benedick that, in despite of his quick wit and his queasy stomach, he shall fall in love with Beatrice. If we can do this, Cupid is no longer an archer; his glory shall be ours, for we are the only love gods. Go in with me, and I will tell you my drift."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Don Pedro and Claudio engage in some deception, but rather than tricking him into loving Beatrice, most likely they intend to manipulate Benedick into coming to a conclusion on his own. They can lie, but they can't assume their lies will persuade: only what's latent in Benedick can bring him to love Beatrice. Their deception is just helping that process along.

"DON PEDRO 'Tis once, thou lovest, And I will fit thee with the remedy. I know we shall have reveling tonight. I will assume thy part in some disguise And tell fair Hero I am Claudio, And in her bosom I'll unclasp my heart And take her hearing prisoner with the force And strong encounter of my amorous tale."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Don Pedro will manipulate Hero into falling in love with Claudio. It's a little shady that Don Pedro will get Hero to fall in love with his words, thinking they're Claudio's words. Claudio and Don Pedro don't care if they manipulate the girl under false pretenses, as they've got their eyes on the prize of winning her (even if she is deceived into being won by a guy she doesn't know and has never spoken to).

"LEONATO There's little of the melancholy element in her, my lord. She is never sad but when she sleeps, and not ever sad then, for I have heard my daughter say she hath often dreamt of unhappiness and waked herself with laughing."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Here, Beatrice might be practicing self-deception. She knows there's a lot to be miserable about in the world, but it's easier to laugh than to cry at things you have no control over. This sleeping self-deception casts some light on Beatrice's ability to be happy in the waking world, even though she might reasonably be sad that she's so alone.

"CLAUDIO Now, if you are a maid, answer to this. HERO I talked with no man at that hour, my lord. DON PEDRO Why, then, are you no maiden."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: In a fit of Shakespearean irony, Hero is condemned as a deceiver for telling the truth.

"FRIAR FRANCIS I have marked A thousand blushing apparitions To start into her face, a thousand innocent shames In angel whiteness beat away those blushes, And in her eye there hath appeared a fire To burn the errors that these princes hold Against her maiden truth. Call me a fool, Trust not my reading nor my observations, Which with experimental seal doth warrant The tenure of my book; trust not my age, My reverence, calling, nor divinity, If this sweet lady lie not guiltless here Under some biting error."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: The Friar trusts that his eyes, and everything he's ever known about Hero, don't deceive him. His judgment implicitly calls into question the judgment of her accusers. Something isn't right, and Friar Francis is willing to bet his learning, observation, and even his Godliness on it. He knows he's not deceived by Hero, therefore the others have been deceived by the accusers.

"DON PEDRO You embrace your charge too willingly. [Turning to Hero.] I think this is your daughter. LEONATO Her mother hath many times told me so. BENEDICK Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her?"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: The first mention we have of a married couple (Leonato and his absent wife) is a joke about whether that wife may have deceived Leonato about the parentage of their child. Marriage is set up to be lampooned, but it seems that deception is expected as a natural part of marriage.

"URSULA Come, come, do you think I do not know you by your excellent wit? Can virtue hide itself? Go to, mum, you are he."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: This is a nice little piece of parallel commentary, as Ursula dances with Antonio before the scene turns over to Benedick and Beatrice at the masquerade ball. Even Ursula, who is not nearly as bright as Beatrice, can recognize the man she's dancing with based on his wit, which she calls a virtue. Beatrice, by contrast, can't recognize Benedick's wit when he dances with her. This is an example of Shakespeare's split screen habit, where the dull characters can figure out what the smart characters cannot, often because the smart characters are too caught up in themselves to notice the obvious (or see the church by daylight, if you will).

"DON JOHN I wonder that thou, being, as thou say'st thou art, born under Saturn, goest about to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief. I cannot hide what I am. I must be sad when I have cause, and smile at no man's jests; eat when I have stomach, and wait for no man's leisure; sleep when I am drowsy, and tend on no man's business; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humor."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: This is a particular bit of irony—Don John says he's not really capable of deception. He can't hide what he's feeling, or what a villain he is. You'd think this was crazy, because Don John does so much deceiving in the play. Come to think of it, he never actually made a great show of being a good or warm guy to begin with. He skulks around the castle, and while he tells direct lies to others in the service of evil, no one could ever say that he tried to pretend to be someone he's not. In that case, who's more at fault, Don John for being a trickster, or Don Pedro and Claudio for trusting him? Deception is a complex thing.

"BENEDICK Signior Leonato, truth it is, good signior, Your niece regards me with an eye of favor. LEONATO That eye my daughter lent her; 'tis most true. BENEDICK And I do with an eye of love requite her. LEONATO The sight whereof I think you had from me, From Claudio, and the Prince; but what's your will? BENEDICK Your answer, sir, is enigmatical. But for my will, my will is your good will May stand with ours, this day to be conjoined In the state of honorable marriage— In which, good friar, I shall desire your help."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Though Benedick and Beatrice essentially arrived at loving each other because of the manipulation of others, this is the closest they ever come to discovering Don Pedro's scheme. However, this "good" deception is ultimately less important than Benedick's love for Beatrice.

"HERO Our talk must only be of Benedick. When I do name him, let it be thy part To praise him more than ever man did merit. My talk to thee must be how Benedick Is sick in love with Beatrice. Of this matter Is little Cupid's crafty arrow made, That only wounds by hearsay."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: When Hero employs the same process as Don Pedro and Claudio, she frames what's really going on. They're definitely deceiving Beatrice about Benedick's supposed condition, but they're arguably only guilty of planting hearsay (rumor). They only mean to let suspicion and hearsay lead Beatrice to the conclusion that she probably would've come to anyway. Maybe.

"LEONATO You will never run mad, niece. BEATRICE No, not till a hot January."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: "Run mad" here refers to catching what Beatrice calls "the Benedick"—essentially going crazy for love. For Beatrice to "catch the Benedick," she'd have to be in love, which she says is as likely as a hot January. That is, "when hell freezes over." Famous last words.

"BENEDICK No, I was not born under a rhyming planet, nor cannot woo in festival terms."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: Benedick admits that he doesn't talk the talk of all the Casanovas, but we think this is actually to his credit. He doesn't love Beatrice in a formal way, with all the pomp and circumstance. This automatically sets him up in contrast to Claudio, who loves Hero by the book. Claudio is always formal—getting Don Pedro to woo her, getting her father's permission to marry, and involving the public in her denunciation. By contrast, Beatrice and Benedick operate and love each other privately and informally. "Festival terms," which Benedick refers to, seem to be the unnecessary bells and whistles of love. The presence of these niceties doesn't necessarily mean love is true.

"BENEDICK 'Tis no such matter. Then you do not love me? BEATRICE No, truly, but in friendly recompense."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: Benedick and Beatrice come so close to walking away from each other here. Is their pride or their fear stronger than their love for each other? How does this make us feel about the potential longevity of their relationship, in contrast to a couple like Claudio and Hero?

"BENEDICK That I neither feel how she should be loved nor know how she should be worthy is the opinion that fire cannot melt out of me. I will die in it at the stake. DON PEDRO Thou wast ever an obstinate heretic in the despite of beauty."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: Benedick hates love, and he's known for hating beauty. Beauty can't move him to love, but perhaps some more meaningful trait in a girl (like how witty she is, and if she's named Beatrice) could move him.

"BEATRICE It is a man's office, but not yours. BENEDICK I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: Benedick's abrupt admission that he loves Beatrice (which is way more straightforward than we would've expected) is prompted by Beatrice's need... of a man to challenge Claudio. Beatrice is looking for a man to do the task, so perhaps Benedick offers his love as proof that he'd do any task for her. Either that, or he's just awkward and has an inappropriate sense of timing.

"CLAUDIO Sweet Hero, now thy image doth appear In the rare semblance that I loved it first."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: Claudio declares his love for Hero again as soon as he hears of her innocence. His sudden renewed love of Hero makes us feel as though his love is not actually as deep as we'd want it to be; his love was destroyed by outside circumstance and is resolved by outside circumstance too. We wonder whether Claudio will be able to weather other miscommunications when the pair is married—or will he be as quick to judge as he is currently, even if he's wrong?

"CLAUDIO 'Tis certain so. The Prince woos for himself. Friendship is constant in all other things Save in the office and affairs of love. Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues. Let every eye negotiate for itself And trust no agent, for beauty is a witch Against whose charms faith melteth into blood."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: Claudio thinks all bets are off when it comes to love; that romantic love can supersede or intrude upon friendship. As a result, he's convinced that Don Pedro is wooing Hero for himself.

"ANTONIO [to Hero] Well, niece, I trust you will be ruled by your father. BEATRICE Yes faith. It is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say, 'Father, as it please you.' But yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make another curtsy, and say, 'Father, as it please me.'"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: Familial love is another form of love in the play, and in this instance it's expressed as duty. Hero's subservience to her father's will is not because she's a girl, but because she's a daughter. Beatrice—also out of love for her cousin—reminds Hero that there's some wiggle room in familial obedience.

"BENEDICK Suffer love! A good epithet. I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will. BEATRICE In spite of your heart, I think. Alas, poor heart, if you spite it for my sake, I will spite it for yours, for I will never love that which my friend hates."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: From this little banter, which is pretty adorable, we get a hint that Benedick and Beatrice will be able to maintain their witty sparks despite being in love. (Love doesn't make saps out of everyone.) Their wit is not a product of their mutual hatred; it survives their love and is used as an expression of love, which means it's just a part of who they are.

"BENEDICK I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviors to love, will, after he hath laughed at such shallow follies in others, become the argument of his own scorn by falling in love—and such a man is Claudio."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: It's poetic justice that Benedick means to deride Claudio with this speech, but knowing what we know about Benedick a few acts from now, Benedick could very well be describing himself.

"CLAUDIO My liege, your Highness now may do me good. DON PEDRO My love is thine to teach. Teach it but how, And thou shalt see how apt it is to learn Any hard lesson that may do thee good."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: Love in this play is also the love between friends - Don Pedro is loyal to Claudio and cares for him. Although Don Pedro is Claudio's superior in age and status, he's willing to do what he can in Claudio's service.

"BENEDICK Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted; and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love none. BEATRICE A dear happiness to women! They would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood, I am of your humor for that. I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: Note that both Beatrice and Benedick say they'll never love anyone. This little spar is likely saying "of course we'll never love each other." Invulnerability to falling in love is a point of pride for them both.

"CLAUDIO I'll hold my mind were she an Ethiope."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: So obviously the "Ethiope" stuff is hyper-racist, but the take-home of this comment—at least in Shakespearean times—is that for Claudio, marriage isn't about love. It's a formal arrangement that is just another way of doing your duty. Here, Claudio's marriage to Leonato's "niece" is just a way for him to pay his dues to the old man.

"HERO If it prove so, then loving goes by haps; Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: Sometimes you can be on the attack to get someone to love you. Other times you have to lure them into the trap of your love with tasty treats. Let this be a lesson to us all.

"BENEDICK With no sauce that can be devised to it. I protest I love thee. BEATRICE Why then, God forgive me! BENEDICK What offence, sweet Beatrice? BEATRICE You have stayed me in a happy hour. I was about to protest I loved you. BENEDICK And do it with all thy heart. BEATRICE I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest. BENEDICK Come, bid me do anything for thee. BEATRICE Kill Claudio."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: This interaction tells us about what love means to Beatrice and Benedick. Beatrice is finally being open about loving Benedick, and she loves him completely. Benedick does too, and he invites her to ask anything of him. Without hesitation, Beatrice quickly announces her request—for Benedick to kill Claudio. This request may come out of convenience (Benedick is there, and he's a man). On the other hand, it's quite possible that she means to test Benedick's love by finding out which his more important: his loyalty to his friends or his love for her. She needs proof of his commitment to her. Also, remember how Beatrice alluded to the fact that she had Benedick's heart once, and he took hers unfairly. It's reasonable that she might need more assurance this second time around, even if it means Claudio's head.

"HERO O god of love! I know he doth deserve As much as may be yielded to a man, But Nature never framed a woman's heart Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice. Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes, Misprizing what they look on, and her wit Values itself so highly that to her All matter else seems weak. She cannot love, Nor take no shape nor project of affection, She is so self-endeared."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: This is an interesting insight into Hero's thinking. We learn more about Hero's notions of love from her conversation about Beatrice and Benedick than from her own thoughts about her marriage to Claudio. Hero seems to realize that in order to love another, one must sacrifice some self-love. She's rationalized that love is not about self-indulgence, but self-sacrifice... which explains some of her willingness to love Claudio even after he's wronged her.

"CLAUDIO If he be not in love with some woman, there is no believing old signs. He brushes his hat o' mornings. What should that bode? DON PEDRO Hath any man seen him at the barber's? CLAUDIO No, but the barber's man hath been seen with him, and the old ornament of his cheek hath already stuffed tennis balls. LEONATO Indeed he looks younger than he did, by the loss of a beard. DON PEDRO Nay, he rubs himself with civet. Can you smell him out by that? CLAUDIO That's as much as to say, the sweet youth's in love."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: This is just adorable. Ergh, we mean, this is serious evidence that even the most resistant among us can fall victim to the steel trap of love. Also, in Shakespeare's day, in order to show that a character was in love, there were certain conventional signs and costume devices the actor would wear so the audience would understand he was in love. Benedick shows up here looking prettier than usual—it's a signal to the audience that he's been changed by love. It's basically the equivalent of wearing a T-shirt that says, "I'm in love" on stage.

"BENEDICK Well, every one can master a grief but he that has it. "

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: This seems to be Benedick's first time being in true love. And, like so many lovers before him, he's convinced it's a unique feeling than no one else has ever felt.

"BENEDICK Ha! Not for the wide world! BEATRICE You kill me to deny it. Farewell. BENEDICK Tarry, sweet Beatrice. BEATRICE I am gone, though I am here. There is no love in you. Nay, I pray you let me go. BENEDICK Beatrice— BEATRICE In faith, I will go. BENEDICK We'll be friends first."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: love Analysis: What does it mean for Beatrice to be so willing to walk away from Benedick? If she's willing to give up her love for him so quickly, is her love actually serious? Perhaps her devotion to her cousin is more important to Beatrice, and she's willing to sacrifice loving Benedick for it. Or maybe Beatrice is just testing Benedick's loyalty by bluffing—that's quite a risk to take. Whatever the reasons behind this weird exchange, these two are not conventional lovers, as the last four minutes have basically been: "My cousin is practically dead!" "That sucks! I love you!" "I love you too!" "Will you kill your best friend?" "Yeah right!" "You suck. Bye!"

"PEDRO She cannot endure to hear tell of a husband. LEON O, by no means. She mocks all her wooers out of suit. PEDRO She were an excellent wife for Benedick."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: As Beatrice tosses out Don Pedro's marriage proposal, he realizes that the girl hasn't married because she hasn't found her equal in mockery and wit. As he wonders who could possibly stand up to her (and maybe by doing so, win her love), Benedick comes up as a natural choice. We've got to wonder whether he chooses Benedick because he really believes they could fall in love, or because he'd like to put Beatrice through a little suffering for not seriously considering him as a potential husband.

"BEATRICE Just, if He send me no husband, for the which blessing I am at Him upon my knees every morning and evening. Lord, I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face. I had rather lie in the woolen! LEONATO You may light on a husband that hath no beard. BEATRICE What should I do with him? Dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: Beatrice denounces marriage in general, but you'll note that she goes on to point out the particular flaws of particular men. We're left to guess whether she is against the institution of marriage in principle, or whether she's simply convinced she'll never find the right man. (Or is her man-bashing a consolation prize because she hasn't found anyone yet?) Lots of possibilities, but the point is, she's not stoked about marriage.

"BEATRICE Good Lord for alliance! Thus goes everyone to the world but I, and I am sunburnt. I may sit in a corner and cry 'Heigh-ho for a husband!'"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: Beatrice jokes that she is unattractive and will never get a husband. (As though this were the sole reason she is still unmarried.) It's also interesting to note that her "Good Lord, for alliance!" mirrors Benedick's concern that he'll never see another old bachelor—both of them seem to be sensitive to the fact that everyone is getting married, except for them.

"BENEDICK The savage bull may; but if ever the sensible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull's horns and set them in my forehead, and let me be vilely painted, and in such great letters as they write "Here is good horse to hire," let them signify under my sign "Here you may see Benedick the married man.""

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: Benedick equates marriage with being whipped, tamed, and cuckolded. Marrying would mean sacrificing his independence and breaking his pride, and Benedick finds the prospect of losing either foolish. It's a strong enough intuition to sour him on marriage altogether.

"BENEDICK Is 't come to this? In faith, hath not the world one man but he will wear his cap with suspicion? Shall I never see a bachelor of threescore again? Go to, i' faith, an thou wilt needs thrust thy neck into a yoke, wear the print of it, and sigh away Sundays."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: Benedick laments that marriage turns great men into pathetic idiots.

"BENEDICK No! The world must be peopled. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: Benedick provides his first reason that marriage is actually quite necessary. Not for love or honor, but because it's our duty to procreate.

"LEONATO [to Hero] Daughter, remember what I told you. If the Prince do solicit you in that kind, you know your answer."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: Essentially, Leonato is saying, "You'll know your answer because I told you your answer." Thus we add one more facet to the presentation of marriage in the play: it's not necessarily an arrangement made out of love, but more like a transaction that can be worked upon and influenced by outside forces.

"HERO God give me joy to wear it, for my heart is exceeding heavy."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: It's Hero's wedding day, and she should be really excited, but she's not. Some camps might interpret this to mean that her feelings foreshadow the ills that will befall her at her wedding. Those of us who don't believe in psychics see some other, more practical reasons. She's about to marry a man who she has not (at least not on stage) had a single conversation with. All the other characters of the play have spent a good deal of time talking about what marriage means to them, but we have yet to hear Hero's thoughts on her own wedding.

"BENEDICK I would not marry her though she were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he transgressed."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: It's notable that Benedick brings up marrying Beatrice, though no one else has even mentioned it. Stating so passionately that it's not on his mind shows that, actually, it's on his mind.

"MARGARET Of what, lady? of speaking honorably? Is not marriage honorable in a beggar? Is not your lord honorable without marriage? I think you would have me say 'Saving your reverence, a husband.' An bad thinking do not wrest true speaking, I'll offend nobody. Is there any harm in 'the heavier for a husband'? None, I think, an it be the right husband and the right wife. Otherwise 'tis light and not heavy. Ask my Lady Beatrice else. Here she comes."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: Margaret teases Hero while Hero is in bad spirits about marriage. Margaret's celebration of marriage as honorable is couched in her bawdy allusion to sex, where one is made to feel a heavy burden (especially when one is lying under a husband). The base reality of sex is the starting point for Margaret to talk about honorable marriage, which makes marriage seem a little less stuffy.

"BEATRICE 'Tis almost five o'clock, cousin. 'Tis time you were ready. By my troth, I am exceeding ill. Heigh-ho!"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: Remember that the earlier Beatrice said she'd cry "heigh-ho," to find a husband. As Hero is off to her wedding, Beatrice likely itching for Benedick to be her own husband. Beatrice's suddenly becoming ill mirrors her cousin's sickness, but Beatrice seems to be sick for want of a husband, while Hero is about to be unwanted by a would-be husband.

"BENEDICK Come, come, we are friends. Let's have a dance ere we are married, that we may lighten our own hearts and our wives' heels. LEONATO We'll have dancing afterward. BENEDICK First, of my word! Therefore play, music.—"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: This is a silly little scene that's a bit bawdy: note that "light-heeled" is another way to say a woman is morally loose. Benedick teases that he'd like to dance with the women before the wedding, and make them light-heeled. Hence Leonato's terse "Get married first!" Benedick, perhaps to show that he'll be mischievous even as a married man, insists on dancing first anyway. This is especially interesting given that Claudio has just teased that Benedick will have a wandering eye when married unless his wife keeps a close watch on him.

"BENEDICK But I hope you have no intent to turn husband, have you? CLAUDIO I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: This is one of the first times that marriage is spoken of explicitly, and it's presented as an object of unwitting deception. Claudio apparently has been as anti-marriage as Benedick, but now that he wants to marry Hero, he notes that even he can't trust his own word.

"LEONATO I cannot bid you bid my daughter live— That were impossible—but I pray you both, Possess the people in Messina here How innocent she died. And if your love Can labour aught in sad invention, Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb And sing it to her bones. Sing it tonight. Tomorrow morning come you to my house, And since you could not be my son-in-law, Be yet my nephew. My brother hath a daughter, Almost the copy of my child that's dead, And she alone is heir to both of us. Give her the right you should have giv'n her cousin, And so dies my revenge."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: This is preposterous. Leonato's "punishment" for Claudio seems to be that Claudio gets a second chance at marrying into Leonato's family. If Hero had really been dead, would this have been proposed as a solution? Does the play ever deal with Claudio getting off so easily? It seems like this punishment comments on marriage's importance (that it could solve such a rift), but it also sheds some light on the role of women in marriages, especially as this "niece" is treated like an interchangeable part for the lost Hero.

"BENEDICK Friar, I must entreat your pains, I think. FRIAR To do what, signior? BENEDICK To bind me, or undo me, one of them.— "

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: marriage Analysis: Though he loves Beatrice, Benedick still jokes about marriage, saying he's not sure that their marriage won't be his "undoing." This hesitation helps to make Benedick seem a believable character—he isn't suddenly transformed into believing in marriage simply because he realized he's capable of love. Again, the disconnect between love and marriage is evident.

"LEONATO Well then, go you into hell? BEATRICE No, but to the gate, and there will the devil meet me like an old cuckold with horns on his head, and say 'Get you to heaven, Beatrice, get you to heaven; here's no place for you maids.' So deliver I up my apes, and away to Saint Peter; for the heavens, he shows me where the bachelors sit, and there live we as merry as the day is long."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: maturity Analysis: Beatrice seems comfortable with her choice to live an old maid, to the point where she's even able to joke about the possibility of going to hell (which was assumed to be the final destination for unmarried women). She's certain there's nothing actually wrong with her, that she's earned her place in heaven, and further, she's happy to be single. This attitude—not of fury, or self-pity—is a pretty mature one, even if it's a little bit of a front.

"BENEDICK In brief, since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that the world can say against it, and therefore never flout at me for what I have said against it. For man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: maturity Analysis: Benedick exhibits real maturity in his thinking. Here, he admits that he might seem like a hypocrite, but has decided that his love is more important than his ideological consistency.

"BENEDICK [aside] I should think this a gull but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it. Knavery cannot, sure, hide himself in such reverence."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: maturity Analysis: Benedick trusts that Leonato, as an old and respected man, wouldn't be in on this conversation if it were a trick. Respect comes with age... though maybe age shouldn't always be trusted.

"MESSENGER Much deserved on his part, and equally remembered by Don Pedro. He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age, doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion. He hath indeed better bettered expectation than you must expect of me to tell you how."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: maturity Analysis: Claudio isn't just praised for being a great soldier: it's of particular importance that one so young has proven himself on the battlefield. This qualification will be important throughout the play. Though Claudio will have adult feelings (especially about love), he's still young. While he has experience in battle, he has no such experience yet with love, which sheds light on his immature behavior towards Hero.

"DON PEDRO I will but teach them to sing and restore them to the owner."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: maturity Analysis: Don Pedro is mature enough not to be caught in the drama of deception. Realizing Benedick and Claudio think that he's stolen away Hero's affection, he rights the whole situation by simply pointing out that he hasn't done anything wrong—he will give Hero to Claudio as promised. Thus we learn disaster can be averted by simply being mature and up front.

"DON PEDRO Well, as time shall try. In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: maturity Analysis: Don Pedro's been around the block, and he's mature enough to realize that even the savage bull can be tamed. He knows men can change their minds, which is, interestingly, exactly the conclusion Benedick comes to in the very end of the play... after he's had some time to mature himself.

"CLAUDIO How sweetly you do minister to love, That know love's grief by his complexion! But lest my liking might too sudden seem, I would have salved it with a longer treatise."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: maturity Analysis: Even Claudio recognizes that seeming to fall in love quickly is a mark of immaturity.

"LEONATO Tush, tush, man, never fleer and jest at me. I speak not like a dotard nor a fool, As under privilege of age to brag What I have done being young, or what would do Were I not old. Know, Claudio, to thy head, Thou hast so wrong'd mine innocent child and me That I am forced to lay my reverence by, And with grey hairs and bruise of many days Do challenge thee to trial of a man."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: maturity Analysis: Leonato lays out the two sides of aging: On one hand, age demands respect, but on the other hand, old age also makes people weaker, which lets young punks abuse them.

"CLAUDIO We had like to have had our two noses snapped off with two old men without teeth."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: maturity Analysis: To Leonato's face, Claudio makes a big show of respecting his age, but it's clear from this comment that Claudio is not exactly Mr. Reverence. Age doesn't seem to command respect for Claudio; he approaches it more as a weakness than a reason for reverence, which is pretty immature of him. It's another strike against Claudio's character.

"BENEDICK But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted; and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love none."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: pride Analysis: Benedick is not so much Captain Modesty. Still, he seems to take a bit of pride in rejecting all of the women that love him. It seems he takes pride not only in the fact that numerous women have fallen in love with him, but also that he has an impenetrable heart.

''CLAUDIO I know not how to pray your patience, Yet I must speak. Choose your revenge yourself. Impose me to what penance your invention Can lay upon my sin. Yet sinned I not But in mistaking."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: pride Analysis: Claudio is really outrageous here - he's just found out he wrongfully accused Hero and he thinks he caused her death. Instead of just hanging his head in shame and being sorry, he feels the need to point out that he was misled, so none of this was really his fault. It seems Claudio is more concerned with protecting his pride than mourning over his part in Hero's death. Even that he's willing to submit himself to punishment seems more about the appropriate formalities of dealing with his wrong than any actual regret or repentance he has.

''CLAUDIO For thee I'll lock up all the gates of love And on my eyelids shall conjecture hang, To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm, And never shall it more be gracious."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: pride Analysis: Claudio isn't only disgusted by the acts he thinks Hero has committed, but it's clear he thinks that his own pride is wounded by almost marrying such a woman. He feels he's been deceived about love in general, and this (perhaps more than her betrayal) is what wounds him. These words are particularly important, as they are his parting comments before leaving Hero for dead.

"HERO O god of love! I know he doth deserve As much as may be yielded to a man, But Nature never framed a woman's heart Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice. Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes, Misprizing what they look on, and her wit Values itself so highly that to her All matter else seems weak. She cannot love, Nor take no shape nor project of affection, She is so self-endeared."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: pride Analysis: Hero suggests that Beatrice's pride gets in the way of valuing her suitors at their true worth. This is, again, ironic, as Beatrice is generally such an accurate observer of people and emotions. Perhaps this love-stuff is too close to her nose (and her heart) for comfort.

"BENEDICK I hear how I am censured. They say I will bear myself proudly if I perceive the love come from her. They say, too, that she will rather die than give any sign of affection. I did never think to marry. I must not seem proud. Happy are they that hear their detractions and can put them to mending."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: pride Analysis: Ironically, it seems that Benedick's hurt pride will inspire him to not seem prideful, and eventually maybe even lead him to put aside his pride and love Beatrice.

"LEONATO O, she tore the letter into a thousand halfpence, railed at herself that she should be so immodest to write to one that she knew would flout her. 'I measure him,' says she, 'by my own spirit, for I should flout him if he writ to me. Yea, though I love him, I should.'"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: pride Analysis: It's telling that though this conversation is entirely made up, it's actually quite accurate. Even after Beatrice admits that she loves Benedick, in the last scene, her pride gets in the way of her public admission that she loves him. It's interesting that Leonato and Don Pedro are spot-on in their assessment, as it's proof that Beatrice and Benedick aren't fooling anyone with their pride.

''LEONATO Wherefore? Why, doth not every earthly thing Cry shame upon her? Could she here deny The story that is printed in her blood?— Do not live, Hero, do not ope thine eyes, For, did I think thou wouldst not quickly die, Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy shames, Myself would on the rearward of reproaches, Strike at thy life. Grieved I I had but one? Child I for that at frugal nature's frame? O, one too much by thee! Why had I one? Why ever wast thou lovely in my eyes? Why had I not with charitable hand Took up a beggar's issue at my gates, Who, smirchèd thus, and mired with infamy, I might have said, 'No part of it is mine; This shame derives itself from unknown loins'? But mine, and mine I loved, and mine I praised, And mine that I was proud on, mine so much That I myself was to myself not mine, Valuing of her—why she, O she, is fall'n Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea Hath drops too few to wash her clean again, And salt too little which may season give To her foul tainted flesh!"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: pride Analysis: Leonato does not grieve for the apparent death of his only child; rather, he rejoices over it as the best way to hide her shame (and therefore his shame). This leads him to reveal that his wounded pride is what he's really worried about. He wishes she was not his flesh and blood, but some adopted child, so he could say, "No part of this scandal is mine," and renounce the girl without any grief. It's clear from Leonato's words that he is more concerned about his own hurt pride than Hero's dishonor.

''DON PEDRO By my soul, nor I, And yet to satisfy this good old man I would bend under any heavy weight That he'll enjoin me to."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: pride Analysis: Like Claudio, Don Pedro says he'll willingly undergo punishment. He claims this is not because he's actually done an awful thing, but because he wishes to "satisfy" Leonato. Don Pedro and Claudio both are too glib in saying essentially, "I'm sorry, but it wasn't my fault, and aren't I a good guy for being willing to get a slap on the wrist for it anyway?" This is some egregious insensitivity, but a healthy dose of pride too—the men are concerned with trying to weakly defend their own reputations.

''BEATRICE What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true? Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much? Contempt, farewell! And maiden pride, adieu! No glory lives behind the back of such. And, Benedick, love on; I will requite thee, Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: pride Analysis: Up to now, we could've believed that Beatrice loved Benedick and just wouldn't admit it. However, what moves Beatrice about the "secret" conversation she's just heard is the accusation that she's scornful and prideful. Her pride is hurt at being called prideful (just like Benedick). Beatrice's pride moves her more than any latent love for Benedick; she's humbly willing to attempt to improve herself, which is way cooler than changing herself for a guy.

"BEATRICE Why, he is the Prince's jester, a very dull fool; only his gift is in devising impossible slanders. None but libertines delight in him, and the commendation is not in his wit but in his villainy, for he both pleases men and angers them, and then they laugh at him and beat him."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Beatrice cuts Benedick deep here by suggesting his reputation is not what he's thought it has been. While he knows men love him for his merriness, he might not have considered that they also mock him for it. Reputation is a powerful thing, especially when you hear about your own reputation from others, and it turns out to be far from how you thought.

"BEATRICE What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true? Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much? Contempt, farewell, and maiden pride, adieu! No glory lives behind the back of such. And Benedick, love on; I will requite thee, Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Beatrice is willing to love Benedick, but it seems that the main force behind the decision is to clear her own reputation.

"BENEDICK Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably. BEATRICE It appears not in this confession. There's not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself. BENEDICK An old, an old instance, Beatrice, that lived in the time of good neighbors. If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb ere he dies, he shall live no longer in monument than the bell rings and the widow weeps."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Beatrice suggests that a man's reputation should be conveyed and earned by his actions and not his words, and especially not by his own words. Benedick points out that reputation these days is nothing but what men say it is. Who do you agree with more, Beatrice or Benedick?

"CLAUDIO Sweet Prince, you learn me noble thankfulness.— There, Leonato, take her back again. Give not this rotten orange to your friend. She's but the sign and semblance of her honor. Behold how like a maid she blushes here! O, what authority and show of truth Can cunning sin cover itself withal! Comes not that blood as modest evidence To witness simple virtue? Would you not swear, All you that see her, that she were a maid, By these exterior shows? But she is none. She knows the heat of a luxurious bed. Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Claudio is hung up on how Hero appears - he thinks her image as a virtuous girl is false, masking her true nature. Reputation is linked with appearances - Hero blushes like a virgin, but Claudio thinks she isn't one. Her reputation as a maiden rests on how she appears; in insisting that how Hero seems is not how she is, Claudio effectively undoes her reputation.

"LEONATO I find here that Don Pedro hath bestowed much honor on a young Florentine called Claudio."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Claudio's reputation precedes him, literally—we're introduced to Claudio's reputation before we meet him. It's important that in our first exposure to this central character, the man is judged not by his deeds, but by what people (in this case, Don Pedro) say about him. This ends up being the case for Hero also; her bad reputation doesn't come about from her actions, but based on Claudio thinking poorly of her.

"CON Away! You are an ass, you are an ass! DOGBERRY Dost thou not suspect my place? Dost thou not suspect my years? O, that he were here to write me down an ass! But masters, remember that I am an ass, though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass.—No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wise fellow and, which is more, an officer and, which is more, a householder and, which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any is in Messina, and one that knows the law, go to, and a rich fellow enough, go to, and a fellow that hath had losses, and one that hath two gowns and everything handsome about him.—Bring him away.—O, that I had been writ down an ass!"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Dogberry lists all of the trappings he has that make him a gentleman, thinking he is actually securing his reputation. It's an interesting insight into Dogberry's insecurity, but it's also echoed by a later conversation between Benedick and Beatrice (see 5.2.73). When Benedick says he's wise, Beatrice points out he is unwise to say so. We wouldn't have believed Dogberry was a gentleman under any circumstances (given his backwards speech), but we're especially sure he isn't a gentleman now that he's insisted that he is one... because that's not gentlemanly thing to say.

"DON JOHN Will it serve for any model to build mischief on? What is he for a fool that betroths himself to unquietness? BORACHIO Marry, it is your brother's right hand. DON JOHN Who, the most exquisite Claudio? BORACHIO Even he. DON JOHN A proper squire. And who? And who? Which way looks he? BORACHIO Marry, on Hero, the daughter and heir of Leonato. DON JOHN A very forward March chick! How came you to this?"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Don John caricatures Claudio and Hero, belittling their good reputations (perhaps in preparation of spoiling their reputations altogether), and using their best qualities as though they were bad qualities. Claudio, who is actually a count, is called a lowly squire, and Hero, who is known for her youth, is maligned as being a chick who has hatched prematurely. Don John seems resentful and wants to destroy the young lovers' reputations, maybe because they are currently in such high standing.

"DON PEDRO Truly the lady fathers herself.—Be happy, lady, for you are like an honorable father."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Don Pedro grants Hero a positive reputation by saying she is her father's daughter. The important thing is that reputation is bestowed easily, so it can be taken away easily too. Looking forward, we know that even Hero's father, the source of her reputation, will denounce her, destroying her reputation.

"PEDRO What should I speak? I stand dishonored that have gone about To link my dear friend to a common stale."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Don Pedro is unduly harsh, but he doesn't think so, as he earnestly thinks Hero is guilty. Not only has he compromised Claudio's good name by linking the boy to a seeming harlot, but he's also worried that his own good name is now on the line. Claudio and Don Pedro are selfishly worried about their own reputations.

"HERO One Hero died defiled, but I do live, And surely as I live, I am a maid. PRINCE The former Hero! Hero that is dead! LEONATO She died, my lord, but whiles her slander lived."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Hero doesn't lament the damage that the men have done to her feelings, or even to herself, but instead excuses the men because her reputation has been cleared.

"CLAUDIO No, Leonato, I never tempted her with word too large, But, as a brother to his sister, showed Bashful sincerity and comely love. HERO And seemed I ever otherwise to you? CLAUDIO Out on the, seeming! I will write against it. You seem to me as Dian in her orb, As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown. But you are more intemperate in your blood Than Venus, or those pampered animals That rage in savage sensuality. HERO Is my lord well that he doth speak so wide?"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: It's interesting here that Hero, instead of simply stating that she is completely innocent, asks Claudio how she "seemed" to him. However, Claudio's entire point is that she seemed innocent, and was not. Unlike Claudio, Hero implies that her reputation should be based on her actions, rather than on accusations and other peoples' opinions.

"BORACHIO Yea, even I alone. LEONATO No, not so, villain, thou beliest thyself. Here stand a pair of honorable men— A third is fled—that had a hand in it.— I thank you, princes, for my daughter's death. Record it with your high and worthy deeds. 'Twas bravely done, if you bethink you of it."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Leonato cuts deep when he refers to Don Pedro and Claudio as "honorable men." The men are seemingly honorable, but you might also interpret Leonato's line as ironic, especially as he says the men should add his innocent daughter's murder to their list of praiseworthy deeds. Leonato suggests their honor is undercut by their haughty credulity, or willingness to believe others and be so cocky about it to boot.

"LEONATO If you swear, my lord, you shall not be forsworn. [To Don John.] Let me bid you welcome, my lord, being reconciled to the Prince your brother, I owe you all duty."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Leonato deals with Don John justly, though the man is a proven villain. For Leonato, it's enough that Don John has made amends with Don Pedro. This seems to have restored his reputation, which makes Leonato trust the former villain. Again, reputation isn't based on deeds.

"FRIAR Did I not tell you she was innocent? LEONATO So are the Prince and Claudio, who accused her Upon the error that you heard debated. But Margaret was in some fault for this, Although against her will, as it appears In the true course of all the question."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Leonato has cleared Don Pedro and Claudio's reputation. Once Leonato learned that the men had been misinformed, and that they acted on that misinformation, he declares the men innocent. Still, it's dubious whether their actions are justified simply by their misunderstanding.

"LEONATO Friar, it cannot be. Thou seest that all the grace that she hath left Is that she will not add to her damnation A sin of perjury. She not denies it."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Leonato raises a good point (though we are disappointed in him). It's interesting to wonder why Hero didn't deny more adamantly the charges against her. All she said was that she didn't talk to a man at her window yesterday, but her whole character was called into question. If her own father—who likely wanted to believe her—wasn't convinced by what she had to say, we've got to wonder why Hero didn't try a little harder to stand up for herself.

"FRIAR FRANCIS She, dying, as it must be so maintained, Upon the instant that she was accused, Shall be lamented, pitied, and excused Of every hearer. For it so falls out That what we have we prize not to the worth Whiles we enjoy it, but being lacked and lost, Why then we rack the value, then we find The virtue that possession would not show us Whiles it was ours."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: The Friar thinks Hero's reputation will be restored once people think she's dead. She'll become the object of lamentation, and people will repent ever having thought bad things about her. It's the "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" idea. This continues to emphasize the point that reputation is not based on deeds; the Friar thinks that Hero's reputation will improve simply by manipulating the emotions of the public.

"CLAUDIO Done to death by slanderous tongues Was the Hero that here lies. Death, in guerdon of her wrongs, Gives her fame which never dies. So the life that died with shame Lives in death with glorious fame."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: This is a really telling commentary about priorities in the play. Claudio's epitaph clears Hero's reputation, but says nothing of his love for her.

"CLAUDIO If I see anything tonight why I should not marry her, tomorrow in the congregation, where I should wed, there will I shame her."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: This is particularly nasty of Claudio. Rather than just canceling the wedding if Hero is disloyal, he's hell-bent on disgracing her in front of the whole congregation. His plan is more about vengefully ruining her reputation than it is about escaping a loveless, dishonest marriage.

"BENEDICK Yet is this no charm for the toothache.— Old signior, walk aside with me. I have studied eight or nine wise words to speak to you, which these hobby-horses must not hear."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: transformation Analysis: Benedick has been transformed by love. Though he's certainly the wittiest in his group of friends, and can usually handle as much heckling as he dishes out, he now slinks off with the gentle Leonato. Basically, in the initial stages of love, he's become more soft, dull, and serious.

"BENEDICK I have known when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife, and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe; I have known when he would have walked ten mile afoot to see a good armor, and now will he lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet. He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier, and now is he turned orthography; his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes. May I be so converted and see with these eyes? I cannot tell; I think not."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: transformation Analysis: Benedick lists of all of the terrible transformations that men undergo when in love, but it's important to note that he doesn't speak of the positive things love actually brings to the table. Men aren't just transformed for the worse—they actually are giving some things up willingly, because love brings them so much more. Benedick doesn't believe a transformation like that could ever happen to him, but it's likely because he only sees the bad effects of love, not any of its benefits.

"BENEDICK I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me because I have railed so long against marriage, but doth not the appetite alters? A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: transformation Analysis: Benedick notes that people change, and uses it as a defense against his former hatred of marriage and claim that he would never have any other opinion on the matter. He's simply changed his mind about his ability to change, which is perfectly respectable.

"BORACHIO Sweet Prince, let me go no farther to mine answer. Do you hear me, and let this Count kill me. I have deceived even your very eyes. What your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought to light, who in the night overheard me confessing to this man, how Don John your brother incensed me to slander the Lady Hero, how you were brought into the orchard and saw me court Margaret in Hero's garments, how you disgraced her when you should marry her. My villainy they have upon record, which I had rather seal with my death than repeat over to my shame. The lady is dead upon mine and my master's false accusation. And, briefly, I desire nothing but the reward of a villain."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: transformation Analysis: Borachio transforms from a villain into a courageous man willing to accept his guilt and pay for his crimes. The seriousness of his crimes—resulting in the supposed death of Hero—has brought about this tremendous change. It's interesting that it didn't bring about a similar transformation in Claudio who later tries to weasel his way out of punishment.

"BENEDICK Even to the next willow, about your own business, county. What fashion will you wear the garland of? About your neck like an usurer's chain? or under your arm, like a lieutenant's scarf? You must wear it one way, for the Prince hath got your Hero. CLAUDIO I wish him joy of her."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: transformation Analysis: Claudio has been transformed from a lover into a victim. Though he's proven strong in battle, he's weak in love, and gives Hero up too easily to Don Pedro.

"CLAUDIO O my, lord, When you went onward on this ended action, I looked upon her with a soldier's eye, That liked, but had a rougher task in hand Than to drive liking to the name of love. But now I am returned and that war thoughts Have left their places vacant, in their rooms Come thronging soft and delicate desires, All prompting me how fair young Hero is, Saying I liked her ere I went to wars."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: transformation Analysis: Claudio says war thoughts had once dominated his mind, but that the battle is over, he's been transformed into a lover. This transformation is not something he had any agency over—he talks about it passively, like falling for Hero is something that happened to him, as opposed to something he came to of his own volition. There's a warning here—he's been transformed and moved by an outside force, not his own internal feelings—it's a sign that perhaps he'll be easily moved against his love for Hero by an outside force too. (Which does happen. Ta da!)

"BENEDICK My lord, for your many courtesies I thank you. I must discontinue your company."

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: transformation Analysis: This is a decisive move for Benedick; as it is the moment when he explicitly breaks company with Don Pedro shows a public transformation in his allegiance.

"[Claudio, Prince, and Don John exit.] BENEDICK How doth the lady?"

Work: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Theme: transformation Analysis: This is a monumental transformation for Benedick during the wedding scene where Hero has just fainted after being publicly denounced. As Don Pedro, Don John, and Claudio storm out, Benedick surprisingly stays behind and even inquires after Hero. While this is an obvious indication that Benedick's allegiances may have changed, it seems there is some deeper transformation at work (perhaps regarding his love for Beatrice, but perhaps also his sense of justice).

"Algernon: My dear Aunt Augusta, I mean he [Bunbury] was found out! The doctors found out that Bunbury could not live, that is what I mean—so Bunbury died. Lady Bracknell: He seems to have had great confidence in the opinion of his physicians. I am glad, however, that he made up his mind at the last to some definite course of action, and acted under proper medical advice."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: foolishness and folly Analysis: Algernon seems to buy into Lady Bracknell's foolish idea that life and death are a matter of choice. To get rid of Bunbury, Algernon lies that he decided to die when the physicians "found out that [he] could not live." Lady Bracknell continues the hilarity by approving that Bunbury finally "acted under proper medical advice." This shows that one of Wilde's primary comedic techniques is to turn a serious subject into something lighthearted.

"Algernon: Well, I don't like your clothes. You look perfectly ridiculous in them. Why on earth don't you go up and change? It is perfectly childish to be in deep mourning for a man who is actually staying for a whole week with you in your house as a guest. I call it grotesque."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: foolishness and folly Analysis: Algernon's comments on Jack's clothes are foolish (but funny) because he says they're hideous and inappropriate for this occasion of happiness. But it is actually Algernon whose arrival foiled Jack's plan, and make his mourning clothes look "perfectly ridiculous."

"Algernon: To begin with, I dined there on Monday, and once a week is quite enough to dine with one's own relations. In the second place, whenever I do dine there I am always treated as a member of the family, and sent down with either no woman at all, or two. In the third place, I know perfectly well whom she will place me next to, to-night. She will place me next Mary Farquhar, who always flirts with her own husband across the dinner-table. That is not very pleasant. Indeed, it is not even decent... and that sort of thing is enormously on the increase. The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous. It looks so bad. It is simply washing one's clean linen in public."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: foolishness and folly Analysis: Algernon's protests to dining with his Aunt Augusta are funny because many of us have felt the same way about eating dinner with our families. He complains about how families treat their own family members at dinner—sending them down quite improperly with either "no woman at all, or two"—which is no fun. Algernon is most offended by the fact that the woman he'll be seated next to flirts with her own husband and nobody else. Algernon's statement is funny and foolish because he recoils at the very thing that society values.

"Lady Bracknell: Kindly turn round, sweet child. [Cecily turns completely round.] No, the side view is what I want. [Cecily presents her profile.] Yes, quite as I expected. There are distinct social possibilities in your profile. The two weak points in our age are its want of principle and its want of profile. The chin a little higher, dear. Style largely depends on the way the chin is worn. They are worn very high, just at present. Algernon! Algernon: Yes, Aunt Augusta! Lady Bracknell: There are distinct social possibilities in Miss Cardew's profile."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: foolishness and folly Analysis: First of all, Lady Bracknell's sudden approval of Cecily is based on the young girl's inheritance. We don't think Lady Bracknell is sincere when she compliments Cecily's beauty. Secondly, it is absurd to divine "distinct social possibilities" from one's profile.

"Jack: My dear Algy, you talk exactly as if you were a dentist. It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn't a dentist. It produces a false impression."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: foolishness and folly Analysis: It's the timing of this statement that makes it so funny. Jack's point seems to be that dentists don't talk like anyone else. However, Jack has just lied to Algernon about his name, his ignorance of a person named Cecily, Cecily's identity as a vertically-challenged aunt, and why his aunt calls him "uncle." It is not Algernon who is being pretentious or hypocritical; it's really Jack.

"Gwendolen: In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: foolishness and folly Analysis: Our common sense tells us that Gwendolen has it backwards. In fact, this is one of the lines that makes us question the title of the play. If "style, not sincerity is the vital thing," then what exactly is the importance of being earnest? This line encapsulates the genius of the play.

"Jack: May I ask you then what you would advise me to do? I need hardly say I would do anything in the world to ensure Gwendolen's happiness. Lady Bracknell: I would strongly advise you, Mr. Worthing, to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: foolishness and folly Analysis: The comedic timing for this line is brilliant. After coming off an emotional roller-coaster ride that ends in a broken heart, Jack is told that the only thing he may do to improve his position is to "produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over." As an orphan, it's impossible for Jack to find his parents. Secondly, think about the use of the word "produce"; when referring to people, we think of reproduction as having kids. Thus, this line is contradictory both in its use of "produce" and in its implication that Jack's parentage is a choice.

"Jack: How can you sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble, I can't make out. You seem to me to be perfectly heartless. Algernon: Well, I can't eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One should always eat muffins quite calmly. It is the only way to eat them. Jack: I say it's perfectly heartless you're eating muffins at all, under the circumstances. Algernon: When I am in trouble, eating is the only thing that consoles me. Indeed, when I am in really great trouble, as any one who knows me intimately will tell you, I refuse everything except food and drink. At the present moment I am eating muffins because I am unhappy. Besides, I am particularly fond of muffins. [Rising] Jack: [Rising] Well, that is no reason why you should eat them all in that greedy way. [Takes muffins from Algernon.] Algernon: [Offering tea-cake] I wish you would have tea-cake instead. I don't like tea-cake."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: foolishness and folly Analysis: This passage is as close to slapstick comedy as Wilde gets. First of all, it's hilarious that the men are fighting over muffins when the loves of their lives have just left them. Plus, it's just silly for grown men to be grabbing muffins from each other; they're acting like children.

"Lady Bracknell: Well, I must say, Algernon, that I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd. Nor do I in any way approve of the modern sympathy with invalids. I consider it morbid. Illness of any kind is hardly a thing to be encouraged in others. Health is the primary duty of life. [...] I should be much obliged if you would ask Mr. Bunbury, from me, to be kind enough not to have a relapse on Saturday, for I rely on you to arrange my music for me. It is my last reception, and one wants something that will encourage conversation, particularly at the end of the season when every one has practically said whatever they had to say..."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: foolishness and folly Analysis: This passage reveals Lady Bracknell's folly not just in her absolute lack of sympathy for a dying person, but because she talks about life and death as if it were just another choice one could make on a daily basis. She is indignant at Bunbury's "shilly-shallying" (the Victorian equivalent of flip-flopping) about whether to live or die.

"Algernon: Might I have a buttonhole first? I never have any appetite unless I have a buttonhole first. Cecily: A Maréchal Niel? [Picks up scissors.] Algernon: No, I'd sooner have a pink rose. Cecily: Why? [Cuts a flower.] Algernon: Because you are like a pink rose, Cousin Cecily. Cecily: I don't think it can be right for you to talk to me like that. Miss Prism never says such things to me."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: gender Analysis: Algernon's line about Cecily's being "like a pink rose" reveals that men flirt with women by praising their beauty. Although Cecily protests the propriety of Algernon's comment, she secretly revels in it, as can be seen in a later scene, where she copies down all of Algernon's compliments in her diary.

"Gwendolen: Outside the family circle, papa, I am glad to say, is entirely unknown. I think that is quite as it should be. The home seems to me to be the proper sphere for the man. And certainly once a man begins to neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully effeminate, does he not? And I don't like that. It makes men so very attractive."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: gender Analysis: Here, Gwendolen is shown reversing the traditional roles of men and women. Gwendolen challenges the conventional idea that women should be the ones at home cooking, cleaning, and raising children. This is one of the few places where Wilde overtly shows that woman can occupy positions of power and usurp the traditional gender roles.

"Lady Bracknell: Her [Gwendolen's] unhappy father is, I am glad to say, under the impression that she is attending a more than usually lengthy lecture by the University Extension Scheme on the Influence of a permanent income on Thought. I do not propose to undeceive him. Indeed I have never undeceived him on any question. I would consider it wrong."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: gender Analysis: Lady Bracknell takes on a powerful role here by deceiving Lord Bracknell. Her claim that his daughter "is attending a more than usually lengthy lecture" instead of rendezvousing with her lover is certainly a deception. Here, we see Lady Bracknell "protecting" Lord Bracknell from the truth.

"Lady Bracknell: Pardon me, you are not engaged to any one. When you do become engaged to some one, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself... And now I have a few questions to put to you, Mr. Worthing."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: gender Analysis: Lady Bracknell's comments suggest that girls are not capable or experienced enough to prudently choose husbands.

"Gwendolen: What wonderfully blue eyes you have, Ernest! They are quite, quite, blue. I hope you will always look at me just like that, especially when there are other people present."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: gender Analysis: That Gwendolen desires Ernest to "look at [her] just like that, especially when there are other people present" reveals her as a vain woman concerned about her appearance in the eyes of others. It is also telling that Gwendolen wants men to look at her in a desirous way, as if she specifically needs the male sex to validate her.

"Jack: [In a very patronising manner] My dear fellow, the truth isn't quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!"

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: gender Analysis: The implication here is that women are too pampered, idealistic, and fragile to have "the truth." This explains why Jack and Algernon don't lose sleep over their lies to their beloveds. They truly believe they are protecting their women from a harsh society.

"Gwendolen: [After a pause] They don't seem to notice us at all. Couldn't you cough? Cecily: But I haven't got a cough. Gwendolen: They're looking at us. What effrontery! Cecily: They're approaching. That's very forward of them."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: gender Analysis: This sudden solidarity in the face of dishonest men shows how quickly women can change sides. When insulted by the men they love, they are quick to turn against them, even if it means siding with former enemies. In a society where women have virtually no power, commanding a man's gaze gives women a sense of empowerment.

"Jack: [Slowly and hesitatingly] Gwendolen—Cecily—it is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth. It is the first time in my life that I have ever been reduced to such a painful position, and I am really quite inexperienced in doing anything of the kind. However, I will tell you quite frankly that I have no brother Ernest. I have no brother at all."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: An adept and habitual liar, Jack does not hold truth and honesty in high regard. Here, he comes out and says it. To him, lying is a more efficient and perhaps more noble way to live one's life. This is, of course, the opposite of conventional thinking.

"Algernon: You have invented a very useful younger brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. Bunbury is perfectly invaluable. If it wasn't for Bunbury's extraordinary bad health, for instance, I wouldn't be able to dine with you at Willis's to-night, for I have been really engaged to Aunt Augusta for more than a week."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Bunbury is Algernon's version of Ernest. Like Jack, Algernon also uses excuses about Bunbury to get out of familial responsibilities—like dining with his Aunt Augusta. He practices deceit, like Jack, to avoid unpleasant situations and create more pleasant ones for himself.

"Cecily: Miss Prism has just been complaining of a slight headache. I think it would do her so much good to have a short stroll with you in the Park, Dr. Chasuble. Miss Prism: Cecily, I have not mentioned anything about a headache."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Cecily makes up false facts to get out of doing her lessons and to encourage a relationship between Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble. The success of her deceit depends on her ability to read people; the fact that she does get Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble to leave her is a testament to her powers of persuasion. Although her deceit is not as serious as Jack's or Algernon's, she lies for the same reasons—to get out of tedious or unpleasant situations. This makes her a perfect match for Algernon.

"Lady Bracknell: My nephew, you seem to be displaying signs of triviality. Jack: On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I've now realised for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Despite Jack's statement that he's learned the "Importance of Being Earnest" or the importance of being honest, we must question his sincerity. Because we realize that there is a pun between the adjective "earnest" and the proper name "Ernest," we can interpret Jack's comment as tongue-in-cheek. He was accidentally truthful in telling Gwendolen his name was Ernest. But he was still untruthful about his younger brother being named Ernest. So in this way, Jack is both earnest and deceitful for the duration of the play. So what does Jack mean here? The importance of being honest? Or the importance of being named Ernest?

"Algernon: [Stammering] Oh! No! Bunbury doesn't live here. Bunbury is somewhere else at present. In fact, Bunbury is dead."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Interestingly, Algernon lies to free himself from future lying. By killing off the fictional Bunbury, Algernon is setting himself up to speak the truth for the rest of his life. He effectively lies so that he can live a better and more ethical life with Cecily.

"Algernon: Yes; but this isn't your cigarette case. This cigarette case is a present from some one of the name of Cecily, and you said you didn't know any one of that name. Jack: Well, if you want to know, Cecily happens to be my aunt. [....] Algernon: [Retreating to back of sofa] But why does she call herself little Cecily if she is your aunt and lives at Tunbridge Wells? [Reading] "From little Cecily with her fondest love." Jack: [Moving to sofa and kneeling upon it] My dear fellow, what on earth is there in that? Some aunts are tall, some aunts are not tall. That is a matter that surely an aunt may be allowed to decide for herself. You seem to think that every aunt should be exactly like your aunt! That is absurd! For Heaven's sake give me back my cigarette case. [Follows Algernon round the room.] Algernon: Yes. But why does your aunt call you her uncle? "From little Cecily, with her fondest love to her dear Uncle Jack." There is no objection, I admit, to an aunt being a small aunt, but why an aunt, no matter what her size may be, should call her own nephew her uncle, I can't quite make out. Besides, your name isn't Jack at all; it is Ernest. Jack: It isn't Ernest; it's Jack."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Jack lies to cover up his double life. A simple white lie that he doesn't know anyone named "Cecily" gets him into an incredibly messy situation. When he's forced to admit he does know a "Cecily," he tries to pass her off as his aunt. But Algy, a fellow Bunburyist, eventually sniffs it all out and forces Jack to confess. What is most surprising is that Jack seems to have no shame about the lies he's been feeding to Algernon for years.

"Jack: [...] When one is placed in the position of guardian, one has to adopt a very high moral tone on all subjects. It's one's duty to do so. And as a high moral tone can hardly be said to conduce very much to either one's health or one's happiness, in order to get up to town I have always pretended to have a younger brother of the name of Ernest, who lives in the Albany, and gets into the most dreadful scrapes."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: Jack reveals the reason behind his deceit. His life is torn between duty and pleasure. Being dutiful is excessively boring to Jack, so he created his younger brother, Ernest. With Ernest, he has a means of escaping the drab life of a legal guardian into the more interesting world of a social London.

"Cecily: Well, I am really only eighteen, but I always admit to twenty when I go to evening parties. Lady Bracknell: You are perfectly right in making some slight alteration. Indeed, no woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating..."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: The fact that Cecily admits to this white lie—concealing her true age—might show that she is not ashamed of telling a fib in the first place. But it also feeds into the stereotype that many women might try to seem younger and more beautiful in social situations. Here, Cecily wants to create the illusion that she is more mature, worldly, and perhaps more suitable as a prospective wife.

"Cecily: Your brother Ernest...arrived about half an hour ago. Jack: What nonsense! I haven't got a brother. Cecily: Oh, don't say that. However badly he may have behaved to you in the past he is still your brother. You couldn't be so heartless as to disown him. I'll tell him to come out. And you will shake hands with him, won't you, Uncle Jack?"

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: The fact that Jack lied (and later revealed the truth) to Algernon gave the latter the opportunity to impersonate Ernest. Had Jack not lied, perhaps Algernon would never have had the chance to court Cecily as he did. As it stands, not only does Cecily believe in Ernest, but she's also on his side—scolding her Uncle Jack for being "so heartless as to disown him."

"Jack: The Army Lists of the last forty years are here. These delightful records should have been my constant study. [Rushes to bookcase and tears the books out.] M. Generals... Mallam, Maxbohm, Magley, what ghastly names they have—Markby, Migsby, Mobbs, Moncrieff! Lieutenant 1840, Captain, Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel, General 1869, Christian names, Ernest John. [Puts book very quietly down and speaks quite calmly.] I always told you, Gwendolen, my name was Ernest, didn't I? Well, it is Ernest after all. I mean it naturally is Ernest."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: lies and deceit Analysis: This is perhaps the most ironic revelation of the whole play. It shows that Jack has not been lying this entire time to Gwendolen. His name really is Ernest. The pun comes into play. Jack has been earnest about being Ernest.

"Algernon: I hope, Cecily, I shall not offend you if I state quite frankly and openly that you seem to me to be in every way the visible personification of absolute perfection."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Algernon bases his declaration of love for Cecily on her looks. This reiterates the idea that a man's love for a woman can be based initially on her physical beauty.

"Jack: I wanted to be engaged to Gwendolen, that is all. I love her. Algernon: Well, I simply wanted to be engaged to Cecily. I adore her."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Both Jack and Algernon confess that they practiced their deceit and briefly betrayed each others' trust simply to meet and spend time with the women they love.

"Algernon: Well, my own dear, sweet, loving little darling, I really can't see why you should object to the name of Algernon. It is not at all a bad name. In fact, it is rather an aristocratic name. Half of the chaps who get into the Bankruptcy Court are called Algernon. But seriously, Cecily... [Moving to her] ... if my name was Algy, couldn't you love me? Cecily: [Rising] I might respect you, Ernest, I might admire your character, but I fear that I should not be able to give you my undivided attention."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Cecily, like Gwendolen, bases her love on something silly. Because of this, readers also question Cecily's love for Algernon, as they do Gwendolen's love for Jack. We wonder whether or not their love is really just adolescent infatuation.

"Gwendolen: ... my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Gwendolen's love is conditional, based on something silly like what her lover's name is. She makes it clear that if his name were not Ernest, she could never love Jack. This shows that she might be mixing up real love, which is often messy, with the idealistic romances of books.

"Gwendolen: Ernest, we may never be married. From the expression on mamma's face I fear we never shall. [...] But although she may prevent us from becoming man and wife, and I may marry some one else, and marry often, nothing that she can possibly do can alter my eternal devotion to you."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Here, Gwendolen declares her eternal love of and devotion to Ernest. Usually, it is a male character who swears his love to a girl, but in a moment of gender role reversal, Gwendolen takes on task.

"Gwendolen: Mr. Worthing, what explanation can you offer to me for pretending to have a brother? Was it in order that you might have an opportunity of coming up to town to see me as often as possible? Jack: Can you doubt it, Miss Fairfax?"

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Jack's professed love for Gwendolen is a little more believable. He had actually met Gwendolen before making up his younger brother, Ernest. Where he conjured up a fictional Ernest to see her as often as possible, she deliberately disobeyed her mother and traveled all the way out into the country to see him.

"Jack: But my dear Lady Bracknell, the matter is entirely in your own hands. The moment you consent to my marriage with Gwendolen, I will most gladly allow your nephew to form an alliance with my ward. Lady Bracknell: [Rising and drawing herself up] You must be quite aware that what you propose is out of the question. Jack: Then a passionate celibacy is all that any of us can look forward to."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: The fact that Lady Bracknell promptly passes up such a worthy candidate as Cecily—rich, beautiful, educated, and charming—as a wife for Algernon, simply because she doesn't want her daughter to marry Jack, shows that Lady Bracknell scoffs at love as a legitimate reason for marriage.

"Algernon: I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: To Algernon, a key ingredient in love is uncertainty. This is why he considers a marriage proposal business instead of pleasure.

"Cecily: Mr. Moncrieff, kindly answer me the following question. Why did you pretend to be my guardian's brother? Algernon: In order that I might have an opportunity of meeting you. Cecily: [To Gwendolen] That certainly seems a satisfactory explanation, does it not?"

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: To modern eyes, Algernon's professed love is insincere because he could not possibly have loved Cecily before he met her. But his answer to Cecily's question is simple, elegant, and appeals to her romantic nature, so it is accepted as a definitive declaration of true love.

"Jack: I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her. Algernon: I thought you had come up for pleasure? . . . I call that business. Jack: How utterly unromantic you are!"

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: Algernon seems to think that proposal and marriage are items of "business," and not "pleasure." He thinks of marriage as a social obligation he must fulfill in order to maintain a respectable name. Jack, on the other hand, has a much more positive view of marriage (possibly because he's already met the love of his life); he seems to regard marriage as romantic.

"Algernon: Nothing will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it. Jack: That is nonsense. If I marry a charming girl like Gwendolen, and she is the only girl I ever saw in my life that I would marry, I certainly won't want to know Bunbury. Algernon: Then your wife will. You don't seem to realise, that in married life three is company and two is none."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: Algernon's skepticism about marriage is revealed in his comments about Bunbury. The fictional character, Bunbury, is used as an excuse for a person to get out of his responsibilities. The fact that he thinks Bunbury will be a useful tool for a husband or wife might reveal that he does not think couples are faithful to each other after matrimony. In contrast, Jack thinks that married couples can be perfectly happy and faithful to each other.

"Algernon: But why on earth did you break it off? What had I done? I had done nothing at all. Cecily, I am very much hurt indeed to hear you broke it off. Particularly when the weather was so charming. Cecily: It would hardly have been a really serious engagement if it hadn't been broken off at least once. But I forgave you before the week was out."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: Cecily's comment that "it would hardly have been a really serious engagement if it hadn't been broken off at least once" hints that she thinks marriage is a big deal. But, because Cecily is so young and believes in happily-ever-afters, she has not quite grasped the seriousness of marriage to the extent that Lady Bracknell or Miss Prism have.

"Gwendolen: I adore you [Jack]. But you haven't proposed to me yet. Nothing has been said at all about marriage. The subject has not even been touched on."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: Gwendolen's comments reveal that she thinks marriages (and proposals) should be organized. Her insistence on a proper proposal also reveals her coy nature.

"Miss Prism: You are too much alone, dear Dr. Chasuble. You should get married. A misanthrope I can understand—a womanthrope, never! Chasuble: [With a scholar's shudder] Believe me, I do not deserve so neologistic a phrase. The precept as well as the practice of the Primitive Church was distinctly against matrimony. Miss Prism: [Sententiously] That is obviously the reason why the Primitive Church has not lasted up to the present day. And you do not seem to realise, dear Doctor, that by persistently remaining single, a man converts himself into a permanent public temptation. Men should be more careful; this very celibacy leads weaker vessels astray. Chasuble: But is a man not equally attractive when married? Miss Prism: No married man is ever attractive except to his wife. Chasuble: And often, I've been told, not even to her. Miss Prism: That depends on the intellectual sympathies of the woman. Maturity can always be depended on. Ripeness can be trusted. Young women are green."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: Here, we see yet another opinion on marriage—this time from two respectable and more mature individuals, Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble. Miss Prism's comments reveal her belief that all respectable men should get married. Her logic is as follows: bachelors permanently become temptations for women if they stay single. Thus, it is their duty to stop leading women astray. Her comment that "young women are green" suggests that women should wait to marry until they are mature enough to value their husbands.

"Jack: [Embracing her] Yes . . . mother! Miss Prism: [Recoiling in indignant astonishment] Mr. Worthing! I am unmarried! Jack: Unmarried! I do not deny that is a serious blow."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: In the nineteenth century, it was unspeakably dishonorable for an unmarried woman to have children because it meant that she had lost her virginity before her wedding night. Miss Prism is horrified that Jack would imply that she is his mother when she has no husband. Compared to social standards nowadays, the practices of the nineteenth century were way harsher and more judgmental of women than they are now.

"Lady Bracknell: Pardon me, you are not engaged to any one. When you do become engaged to some one, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself . . . And now I have a few questions to put to you, Mr. Worthing."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: It is obvious from these comments that Lady Bracknell's idea of marriage differs greatly from Gwendolen's. While Gwendolen believes that a girl should be able to fall in love and marry the man of her choice, regardless of his social class, Lady Bracknell thinks that love should have nothing to do with it. In fact, she thinks that it's okay for a girl not to even meet her future husband before marrying him. Lady Bracknell's concept of marriage is based on the idea that it must be—above all—a mark of social status.

"Chasuble: Your brother was, I believe, unmarried, was he not? Jack: Oh yes. Miss Prism: [Bitterly] People who live entirely for pleasure usually are."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: Miss Prism—like Algernon—differentiates between business and pleasure. But she differs from Algernon in that she embraces responsibility and duty. So while she believes that marriage is a social responsibility, she considers it an honor and a mark of respect.

"Lady Bracknell: You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter—a girl brought up with the utmost care—to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel? Good morning, Mr. Worthing!"

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: Since Lady Bracknell thinks that a woman should marry to improve her social status, it makes sense that she would blast Jack for not knowing anything about his family. She can't imagine any honorable man dreaming of proposing to her daughter without having any noble connections.

"Lady Bracknell: To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think is never advisable."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: That Lady Bracknell considers it "never advisable" to "give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage" just shows that high society has made the institution of marriage more about politics and less about love. A politically or socially respectable marriage has nothing to do with chemistry between the couple and everything to do with each individual's bloodlines and credentials.

"Algernon: Why is it that at a bachelor's establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne? I ask merely for information. Lane: I attribute it to the superior quality of the wine, sir. I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first-rate brand. Algernon: Good heavens! Is marriage so demoralising as that? Lane: I believe it is a very pleasant state, sir. I have had very little experience of it myself up to the present. I have only been married once. That was in consequence of a misunderstanding between myself and a young person."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: marriage Analysis: The question here is whether or not marriage is demoralizing. This is one of the main questions that keeps popping up throughout the play. Lane doesn't think that marriage is "demoralizing." But Lane's opinions are questionable since his marriage did not succeed.

"Algernon: Well, in the first place girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don't think it right."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: According to Algernon, "girls never marry the men they flirt with" because "girls don't think it right." This shows that the types of men women marry are different from the type of men they flirt with. Flirtation usually means that two people are attracted to each other. If women don't marry the men they flirt with, this means they marry men to whom they are not attracted.

"Chasuble: Both these gentlemen have expressed a desire for immediate baptism. Lady Bracknell: At their age? The idea is grotesque and irreligious! Algernon, I forbid you to be baptized. I will not hear of such excesses."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: As a noble, Lady Bracknell is conservative in her religious outlooks. Even when practices such as baptizing adults are not forbidden by the Church, Lady Bracknell doesn't approve. She believes that because of her high rank, she knows better than others—even clerics—what is respectable in religious practice.

"Cecily: Dear Uncle Jack is so very serious! Sometimes he is so serious that I think he cannot be quite well. Miss Prism: [Drawing herself up] Your guardian enjoys the best of health, and his gravity of demeanour is especially to be commended in one so comparatively young as he is. I know no one who has a higher sense of duty and responsibility."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: As an older character with a staunch sense of morality, Miss Prism admires Jack for his apparent "gravity of demeanor," especially since he is "so comparatively young"—twenty-nine years old. She admires his "sense of duty and responsibility" and espouses the same for Cecily. But young Cecily, who values pleasure and romantic love above all, sees Jack's "respectability" as tiresome and even a sign of possible illness.

"Algernon: My dear fellow, the way you flirt with Gwendolen is perfectly disgraceful. It is almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts with you."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Because girls are under such strict moral codes in the Victorian era, it is dishonorable for them to be seen flirting publicly with men, especially single men. On the flip side, it is also socially questionable for a man to be seen flirting with a woman since that would be interpreted as leading her astray.

"Jack: [Embracing her] Yes... mother! Miss Prism: [Recoiling in indignant astonishment] Mr. Worthing! I am unmarried! Jack: Unmarried! I do not deny that is a serious blow."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: By Victorian standards, an unmarried mother is a most scandalous and dishonorable individual. It means that she lost her virginity before marriage. In a time when female chastity was highly valued—and indeed, used as a bargaining chip in arranging marriages—an unmarried pregnancy was not only a disgrace, but a ticket straight out of the upper social circles.

"Lady Bracknell: And now that we have finally got rid of this Mr. Bunbury, may I ask, Mr. Worthing, who is that young person whose hand my nephew Algernon is now holding in what seems to me a peculiarly unnecessary manner?"

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Like public flirtation, public hand-holding between two unmarried individuals is highly inappropriate in the Victorian era—as Lady Bracknell makes quite clear. But the fact that Algernon and Cecily continue holding hands even after Lady Bracknell's icy comment shows that their love (or recklessness) transcends their sense of propriety.

"Lady Bracknell: [....] Mr. Worthing, I confess I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand bag, whether it had handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution. And I presume you know what that unfortunate movement led to? As for the particular locality in which the hand bag was found, a cloak-room at a railway station might serve to conceal a social indiscretion—has probably, indeed, been used for that purpose before now—but it could hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a recognised position in good society."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: The most important criteria for respectability in Victorian England was one's bloodlines, especially if they were aristocratic. Lady Bracknell asks whether Jack's wealth comes from "the purple of commerce" or from "aristocracy" because the upper classes had more respect for aristocrats. That Jack has no idea who his family is, and was "found" at birth in such an unpromising place as in a handbag at a train station, immediately makes him a ridiculous prospect for marriage with Gwendolen.

"Jack: [...] you have no right whatsoever to read what is written inside. It is a very ungentlemanly thing to read a private cigarette case."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: Unlike Algernon, Jack has a sense of morality, which he defines as what is "gentlemanly." To Jack, it is dishonorable or "ungentlemanly" for a man to pry into another's private life. He distinguishes between the public sphere and the private in a way that Algernon does not—as evidenced by Algernon's later desire to peek into Cecily's diary.

"Lady Bracknell: What is your income? Jack: Between seven and eight thousand a year. Lady Bracknell: [Makes a note in her book] In land, or in investments? Jack: In investments, chiefly. Lady Bracknell: That is satisfactory. What between the duties expected of one during one's lifetime, and the duties exacted from one after one's death, land has ceased to be either a profit or a pleasure. It gives one position, and prevents one from keeping it up. That's all that can be said about land. Jack: I have a country house with some land, of course, attached to it, about fifteen hundred acres, I believe; but I don't depend on that for my real income. In fact, as far as I can make out, the poachers are the only people who make anything out of it. Lady Bracknell: A country house! How many bedrooms? Well, that point can be cleared up afterwards. You have a town house, I hope? A girl with a simple, unspoiled nature, like Gwendolen, could hardly be expected to reside in the country. Jack: Well, I own a house in Belgrave Square, but it is let by the year to Lady Bloxham. Of course, I can get it back whenever I like, at six months' notice. Lady Bracknell: Lady Bloxham? I don't know her. Jack: Oh, she goes about very little. She is a lady considerably advanced in years. Lady Bracknell: Ah, nowadays that is no guarantee of respectability of character. What number in Belgrave Square? Jack: 149. Lady Bracknell: [Shaking her head] The unfashionable side. I thought there was something. However, that could easily be altered. Jack: Do you mean the fashion, or the side? Lady Bracknell: [Sternly] Both, if necessary, I presume."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: respect and reputation Analysis: What the upper class considers respectable is wealth and style. This is shown in Lady Bracknell's interest in Jack's assets when considering whether or not he is a proper suitor for Gwendolen's hand. It is also important that Jack has enough wealth to afford both a country and town house. To pass Lady Bracknell's test, Jack must live in a fashionable area in the city. Because of her pride in her rank, Lady Bracknell assumes that Jack will gladly either relocate his house to the fashionable side or change the current fashionable trends.

"Lady Bracknell: I'm sure the programme will be delightful, after a few expurgations. French songs I cannot possibly allow. People always seem to think that they are improper, and either look shocked, which is vulgar, or laugh, which is worse. But German sounds a thoroughly respectable language, and indeed, I believe is so."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: After French Revolution, the English aristocracy was afraid of the same thing happening at home. So the English did everything in their power to suppress French influence. For Lady Bracknell, this includes omitting French music from her party programs. Her move has nothing to do with the respectability of the French language or the aesthetic value of French music—although she tries to make it sound like it does—but with the political implications that anything French carries with it.

"Algernon: I love hearing my relations abused. It is the only thing that makes me put up with them at all. Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: Algernon's dislike of his familial relations can be seen as a comment on how the British inheritance system functions. Algernon exaggerates the aristocratic greed for money. If his older siblings would die, Algernon could legally inherit all his father's financial assets.

"Lady Bracknell: Mr. Worthing, is Miss Cardew at all connected with any of the larger railway stations in London? I merely desire information. Until yesterday I had no idea that there were any families or persons whose origin was a Terminus. [Jack looks perfectly furious, but restrains himself.]"

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: As a noblewoman, Lady Bracknell insults Jack—mocking his lack of knowledge about his family—to highlight the difference in their social ranks. To her, Gwendolen's marriage to Jack would result in a dead end—or a "terminus." In a clever pun, "terminus" also means a station or stop along a railroad line, so Lady Bracknell simultaneously insults Jack's social origins.

"Cecily: May I offer you some tea, Miss Fairfax? Gwendolen: [With elaborate politeness] Thank you. [Aside] Detestable girl! But I require tea! Cecily: [Sweetly] Sugar? Gwendolen: [Superciliously] No, thank you. Sugar is not fashionable any more. [Cecily looks angrily at her, takes up the tongs and puts four lumps of sugar into the cup.] Cecily: [Severely] Cake or bread and butter? Gwendolen: [In a bored manner] Bread and butter, please. Cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays. Cecily: [Cuts a very large slice of cake, and puts it on the tray.] Hand that to Miss Fairfax."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: Cecily takes advantage of the aristocratic Gwendolen's comic obsession with fashion. To most people, it doesn't matter whether or not one puts sugar in her tea or eats bread and butter instead of cake. But to Gwendolen, these choices are important statements on one's stylishness and, ultimately, one's reputation among peers. Here, Cecily takes advantage of her lower birth to insult Gwendolen.

"Miss Prism: [Calling] Cecily, Cecily! Surely such a utilitarian occupation as the watering of flowers is rather Moulton's duty than yours? Especially at a moment when intellectual pleasures await you. Your German grammar is on the table."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: Education differentiates the higher classes from lower ones. Miss Prism insists that Cecily leave menial work to servants while concentrating on her lessons. The idea is that the more educated Cecily is, the more she will impress important men in the future and possibly improve her prospects in marriage. She could potentially marry into an aristocratic family and better her current position.

"Lady Bracknell [to Gwendolen]: Sit down immediately. Hesitation of any kind is a sign of mental decay in the young, of physical weakness in the old."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: In Lady Bracknell's circle, the authority of elders is well-established in upholding social class. Because parents decide every aspect of their children's lives, any disobedience on a child's part can be read as a sign of rebellion—something that could destroy the aristocracy. Compare this with Jack's reaction to Cecily's indiscretions; he doesn't freak out about them. He rarely orders her to let go of Algernon's hand or commands her to go back to her lessons.

"Algernon: Lane's views on marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: In an inversion of conventional thinking, Algernon thinks lower classes should set a moral example for the upper classes like the aristocracy. Apparently, he thinks the higher classes are corrupt, but it seems as though he has no problem with its hypocrisy.

"Jack: Then I was christened! That is settled. Now, what name was I given? Let me know the worst. Lady Bracknell: Being the eldest son you were naturally christened after your father."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: In the Victorian era, it was appropriate for the eldest son of a family to be named after his father. This shows how important bloodlines are. By keeping his father's first and last name, a son ensured the survival and continuation of his family name. Keep in mind that the family name is the only claim that a son has to all the wealth and rights of the aristocracy.

"Lady Bracknell: As a matter of form, Mr. Worthing, I had better ask you if Miss Cardew has any little fortune? Jack: Oh! about a hundred and thirty thousand pounds in the Funds. That is all. Goodbye, Lady Bracknell. So pleased to have seen you. Lady Bracknell: [Sitting down again] A moment, Mr. Worthing. A hundred and thirty thousand pounds! And in the Funds! Miss Cardew seems to me a most attractive young lady, now that I look at her."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: Jack's substantial assets, which make Cecily akin to a millionaire, force Lady Bracknell to swallow her previous insults and consider Cecily as a match for her penniless, but aristocratic nephew, Algernon.

"Lady Bracknell: I'm sorry if we are a little late, Algernon, but I was obliged to call on dear Lady Harbury. I hadn't been there since her poor husband's death. I never saw a woman so altered; she looks quite twenty years younger."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: Lady Bracknell's need to mention that Lady Harbury "looks quite twenty years young" "since her poor husband's death" reveals the ridiculous need to gossip.

"Cecily: You see, it [her diary] is simply a very young girl's record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. When it appears in volume form I hope you will order a copy. But pray, Ernest, don't stop. I delight in taking down from dictation. I have reached "absolute perfection." You can go on. I am quite ready for more."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: versions of reality- romance Analysis: As we previously established, Cecily's diary is a storehouse for all of her fantasies. Before Algernon came along, they were just that—unattainable fantasies. But now that Algernon has taken on the identity of "Ernest," she is closer than ever to achieving her romanticized love.

"Cecily: I keep a diary in order to enter the wonderful secrets of my life. If I didn't write them down, I should probably forget all about them."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: versions of reality- romance Analysis: Cecily revels in her secret, romantic life where she controls everything that happens. Unsatisfied with her mundane life, where she does nothing but study, Cecily makes up a series of romantic escapades featuring her secret lover "Ernest."

"Miss Prism: The plain facts of the case are these. On the morning of the day you [Lady Bracknell] mention, a day that is for ever branded on my memory, I prepared as usual to take the baby out in its perambulator. I had also with me a somewhat old, but capacious hand bag in which I had intended to place the manuscript of a work of fiction that I had written during my few unoccupied hours. In a moment of mental abstraction, for which I never can forgive myself, I deposited the manuscript in the basinette, and placed the baby in the hand bag."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: versions of reality- romance Analysis: From what we know about Miss Prism's three-volume novel (which Lady Bracknell has called a "manuscript...of more than usually revolting sentimentality" (III.126)) and her definition of fiction, we can speculate that it was a romantic daydream or hope of future stardom that caused her "moment of mental abstraction" and led to the disastrous mistake. Does Wilde use Miss Prism's mistake as a warning?

Gwendolen: For me you have always had an irresistible fascination. Even before I met you I was far from indifferent to you. [Jack looks at her in amazement.] We live, as I hope you know, Mr. Worthing, in an age of ideals. The fact is constantly mentioned in the more expensive monthly magazines, and has reached the provincial pulpits, I am told; and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you.

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: versions of reality- romance Analysis: Gwendolen's "ideal" of loving the "name of Ernest" is not based on anything logical. Instead, her love of the name is aesthetic. As Jack amply proves, he is far from earnest and does not really deserve a name that means "honest."

"Chasuble: [Looking up] It has stopped now. [The noise is redoubled.] Lady Bracknell: I wish he would arrive at some conclusion. Gwendolen: This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: versions of reality- romance Analysis: Gwendolen's melodramatic love for suspense reveals how she takes her favorite scenes from novels and applies them to real life.

"Gwendolen: The story of your romantic origin, as related to me by mamma, with unpleasing comments, has naturally stirred the deeper fibres of my nature."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: versions of reality- romance Analysis: Jack's mysterious origins do not seem shady or even problematic to Gwendolen, but instead feed her fantasies of a hero with all the romantic mystery of a secret history. Of course, this secret past is not romantic for the more realistic Jack or Lady Bracknell, for whom it is an impediment toward marrying Gwendolen.

"Cecily: You must not laugh at me, darling, but it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love some one whose name was Ernest. [Algernon rises, Cecily also.] There is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence. I pity any poor married woman whose husband is not called Ernest."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: versions of reality- romance Analysis: Like Gwendolen, Cecily admits that "it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest." In fact, Cecily's next words echo verbatim Gwendolen's whimsical wish for her own Ernest. That Cecily desires exactly the same thing as Gwendolen clues us into the fact that these two characters are foils. (See our "Character Roles" section for more.)

"Miss Prism: Do not speak slightingly of the three-volume novel, Cecily. I wrote one myself in earlier days. Cecily: Did you really, Miss Prism? How wonderfully clever you are! I hope it did not end happily? I don't like novels that end happily. They depress me so much. Miss Prism: The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: versions of reality- romance Analysis: Miss Prism defines for us exactly what fictional romances mean—"the good ended happily, and the bad unhappily." This is how both Gwendolen and Cecily picture their lives ending, with happily-ever-afters. Also, the fact that Miss Prism wrote a romantic three-volume novel suggests that she was once an idealistic girl.

"Cecily: [Very politely, rising] I am afraid you must be under some misconception. Ernest proposed to me exactly ten minutes ago. [Shows diary.] Gwendolen: [Examines diary through her lorgnettte carefully] It is certainly very curious, for he asked me to be his wife yesterday afternoon at 5.30. If you would care to verify the incident, pray do so. [Produces diary of her own.] I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."

Work: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Lahiri Theme: versions of reality- romance Analysis: Since both men have indulged their lovers' fantasies for an "Ernest," we see what started out as pure daydream becomes reality—and a highly disputed one at that. The way in which both women enter their proposal dates into their diaries shows that it is as unreal and whimsical to them as their previous romantic daydreams. Gwendolen puts it best when—referring to her diary—she says "one should always have something sensational to read."

""We won! We won!" was all I could say. This wasn't happening. In a moment, I'd blink and rouse from this beautiful dream, get out of bed, march down to the kitchen to eat breakfast with no one to talk to but Hassan. Get dressed. Wait for Baba. Give up. Back to my old life. Then I saw Baba on our roof. He was standing on the edge, pumping both of his fists. Hollering and clapping. And that right there was the single greatest moment of my twelve years of life, seeing Baba on that roof, proud of me at last."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: admiration Analysis: Although we're happy for Amir, Shmoop's Department of Child Psychology firmly believes it's not a good thing if the child has to win his father's affection. Amir wins the kite tournament and returns to Baba's study with the infamous blue kite. He does gain his father's affection - for a little while. Amir's newfound closeness with Baba will last only a brief time. The sacrifices Amir makes (or has Hassan makes) will haunt him for much of his life.

"It happened just the way I'd imagined. I opened the door to the smoky study and stepped in. Baba and Rahim Khan were drinking tea and listening to the news crackling on the radio. Their heads turned. Then a smile played on my father's lips. He opened his arms. I put the kite down and walked into his thick hairy arms. I buried my face in the warmth of his chest and wept. Baba held me close to him, rocking me back and forth. In his arms, I forgot what I'd done. And that was good."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: admiration Analysis: Amir finally wins his father's admiration but we're pretty sure this actually isn't the way he imagined it would happen. Sure, this passage has all the trappings of a good father-son hug. "I'm so proud of you, son!" the father might even say. But you should dig a little deeper. Just under the surface there's a further connection between Baba and Amir. On one level, Baba celebrates Amir's athleticism and courage in the kite tournament. The boy is finally acting like a man. But on another level, Amir has just committed a hefty betrayal on the same level as Baba's infidelity with Sanaubar. The two are now bound by guilt and sin and that's not healthy.

"That summer of 1983, I graduated from high school at the age of twenty, by far the oldest senior tossing his mortarboard on the football field that day. I remember losing Baba in the swarm of families, flashing cameras, and blue gowns. I found him near the twenty-yard line, hands shoved in his pockets, camera dangling on his chest. He disappeared and reappeared behind the people moving between us: squealing blue-clad girls hugging, crying, boys high-fiving their fathers, each other. Baba's beard was graying, his hair thinning at the temples, and hadn't he been taller in Kabul? He was wearing his brown suit - his only suit, the same one he wore to Afghan weddings and funerals - and the red tie I had bought for his fiftieth birthday that year. Then he saw me and waved. Smiled. He motioned for me to wear my mortarboard, and took a picture of me with the school's clock tower in the background. I smiled for him - in a way, this was his day more than mine. He walked to me, curled his arm around my neck, and gave my brow a single kiss. "I am moftakhir, Amir," he said. Proud. His eyes gleamed when he said that and I liked being on the receiving end of that look."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: admiration Analysis: Does the immigration to America reverse Baba and Amir's roles? Certainly, Amir has an easier time adapting to their new country. And Baba's once-imposing stature diminishes as he works long hours at a low-paying job. The last time we saw Baba proud of Amir, Amir had just won the kite tournament. Baba's admiration for Amir, in that case, lasted only a short time. We suspect, however, that things change permanently at this point. Baba waits around to take a picture of Amir, lost in the crowd. Even more significant is the fact that Amir "liked being on the receiving end of that look." This isn't the longing Amir once had for his father's admiration.

"I read it to him in the living room by the marble fireplace. No playful straying from the words this time; this was about me! Hassan was the perfect audience in many ways, totally immersed in the tale, his face shifting with the changing tones in the story. When I read the last sentence, he made a muted clapping sound with his hands. "Mashallah, Amir agha. Bravo!" He was beaming. "You liked it?" I said, getting my second taste - and how sweet it was - of a positive review. "Some day, Inshallah, you will be a great writer," Hassan said. "And people all over the world will read your stories." "You exaggerate, Hassan," I said, loving him for it. "No. You will be great and famous," he insisted."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: admiration Analysis: If we were to ask you (we're asking you) who admires whom in The Kite Runner, how would you respond? Your first answer would surely be: Amir admires Baba. Most of the events in the novel happen because Amir never gets the love he needs from Baba. Amir's jealousy of Hassan drives him to do some pretty terrible things. But don't forget the other story of devotion and admiration in The Kite Runner: Hassan's unflagging admiration for Amir.

"As words from the Koran reverberated through the room, I thought of the old story of Baba wrestling a black bear in Baluchistan. Baba had wrestled bears his whole life. Losing his young wife. Raising a son by himself. Leaving his beloved homeland, his watan. Poverty. Indignity. In the end, a bear had come that he couldn't best. But even then, he had lost on his own terms."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: admiration Analysis: Somehow, during Amir's childhood, and while they lived in Afghanistan, death and illness never seemed like threats to someone like Baba. The wild forces of nature (a.k.a. a bear) couldn't contend with Baba - so why should a disease pose any threat? But once these things do happen to Baba, he starts to seem very human. It's possible, though, that because Baba ages and has trouble adapting to life in America, Amir is able to reconcile with his past. This man who towered over Amir reveals a more human side, which might help Amir accept his own failings.

"Just one month after we arrived in the U.S., Baba found a job off Washington Boulevard as an assistant at a gas station owned by an Afghan acquaintance - he'd started looking for work the same week we arrived. Six days a week, Baba pulled twelve-hour shifts pumping gas, running the register, changing oil, and washing windshields. I'd bring him lunch sometimes and find him looking for a pack of cigarettes on the shelves, a customer waiting on the other side of the oil-stained counter, Baba's face drawn and pale under the bright fluorescent lights. The electronic bell over the door would ding-dong when I walked in, and Baba would look over his shoulder, wave, and smile, his eyes watering from fatigue."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: admiration Analysis: This Baba certainly isn't the bear-wrestling, pipe-smoking legend of the first third of the novel. Baba works long hours at a gas station, serving customers, tied to the scourge of all retail salespersons: the electronic bell. Do you think Amir still admires Baba - or has Baba's stature significantly diminished in Amir's eyes? We admire Baba's work ethic and determination. But we also think the magic aura surrounding Baba has disappeared. He seems normal now. He's no longer the all-powerful father driving a Ford Mustang from Bullitt. In fact, now he's working at a filling station pumping gas into other people's cars.

"Upstairs was my bedroom, Baba's room, and his study, also known as "the smoking room," which perpetually smelled of tobacco and cinnamon. Baba and his friends reclined on black leather chairs there after Ali had served dinner. They stuffed their pipes - except Baba always called it "fattening the pipe" - and discussed their favorite three topics: politics, business, soccer. Sometimes I asked Baba if I could sit with them, but Baba would stand in the doorway. "Go on, now," he'd say. "This is grown-ups' time. Why don't you go read one of those books of yours?" He'd close the door, leave me to wonder why it was always grown-ups' time with him. I'd sit by the door, knees drawn to my chest. Sometimes I sat there for an hour, sometimes two, listening to their laughter, their chatter."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: admiration Analysis: This is a little heartbreaking. In his devotion to his father, Amir sits by the door of Baba's study for hours. It's easy to see just how central unrequited affection becomes in The Kite Runner. Amir's affection for Baba, which isn't returned, in some ways drives him to betray Hassan. Jealously, as much as cowardice, may motivate Amir to leave Hassan in the alleyway. Here's another example of unrequited affection: Would Sanaubar have slept with Baba if she really loved Ali? What about Amir and Hassan - if Amir stayed as loyal to Hassan as Hassan stayed to him, would the novel change? (Sufficed to say, if Amir didn't betray Hassan, the novel wouldn't be half as interesting.)

""Hey, man, this guy needs help!" the Filipino man said with alarm. I turned around and found Baba on the ground. His arms and legs were jerking. "Komak!" I cried. "Somebody help!" I ran to Baba. He was frothing at the mouth, the foamy spittle soaking his beard. His upturned eyes showed nothing but white. People were rushing to us. I heard someone say seizure. Some one else yelling, "Call 911!" I heard running footsteps. The sky darkened as a crowd gathered around us. Baba's spittle turned red. He was biting his tongue. I kneeled beside him and grabbed his arms and said I'm here Baba, I'm here, you'll be all right, I'm right here. As if I could soothe the convulsions out of him. Talk them into leaving my Baba alone. I felt a wetness on my knees. Saw Baba's bladder had let go. Shhh, Baba jan, I'm here. Your son is right here."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: admiration Analysis: We included this quote to show you just how different the Baba of Fremont, California is from the Baba of Kabul, Afghanistan. We feel for Baba when his bladder fails him. This would be unimaginable for the bear-fighter from Afghanistan; the Baba from Kabul wouldn't tolerate his son's tears, much less any weakness displayed by himself. (Not that getting a fatal illness somehow suggests weakness in a person - but the Baba of Kabul, Afghanistan would see it that way.)

"Baba smoked his pipe and talked. I pretended to listen. But I couldn't listen, not really, because Baba's casual little comment had planted a seed in my head: the resolution that I would win that winter's tournament. I was going to win. There was no other viable option. I was going to win, and I was going to run that last kite. Then I'd bring it home and show it to Baba. Show him once and for all that his son was worthy. Then maybe my life as a ghost in this house would finally be over. I let myself dream: I imagined conversation and laughter over dinner instead of silence broken only by the clinking of silverware and the occasional grunt. I envisioned us taking a Friday drive in Baba's car to Paghman, stopping on the way at Ghargha Lake for some fried trout and potatoes. We'd go to the zoo to see Marjan the lion, and maybe Baba wouldn't yawn and steal looks at his wristwatch all the time. Maybe Baba would even read one of my stories. I'd write him a hundred if I thought he'd read one. Maybe he'd call me Amir jan like Rahim Khan did."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: admiration Analysis: We're getting a little choked up. Seriously, it's tough to hear how much Amir craves his father's attention. Amir wants the following, in no particular order: to not be a ghost in his house; to be worthy in his father's eyes; to talk to his father at dinner; to go on outings with his father; to have his father's attention on these outings; to hear his father express affection for him. However, we wonder if Baba's to blame. Baba must spend a great deal of his energy trying to both show and hide his love for his other son Hassan. It's a case of colossal confusion, miscommunication, and silence.

"Lore has it my father once wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan with his bare hands. If the story had been about anyone else, it would have been dismissed as laaf, that Afghan tendency to exaggerate - sadly, almost a national affliction; if someone bragged that his son was a doctor, chances were the kid had once passed a biology test in high school. But no one ever doubted the veracity of any story about Baba. And if they did, well, Baba did have those three parallel scars coursing a jagged path down his back. I have imagined Baba's wrestling match countless times, even dreamed about it. And in those dreams, I can never tell Baba from the bear."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: admiration Analysis: When Shmoop writes its own novel we're going to begin it with the following sentence: "Lore has it my father once wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan with his bare hands." How amazing is that sentence? It's pretty amazing. Amir even goes on to argue this tale is not typical Afghan storytelling and exaggeration. Jeez Louise, Baba sounds like a stud. Imagine if you heard a story about how your father wrestled with a bear when you were a kid. You'd probably alternately fear and adore the guy, just like Amir. But things aren't all rosy in this bear-wrestling world of ours. Amir begins to dream of his father and the bear; and in the dreams he can't tell which figure is his father and which is the bear. Sounds to me like somebody's father is getting a little scary. We mean, a bear is the closest thing to a monster in the wild, besides maybe a rhino or a mutant gorilla.

"Hassan's favorite book by far was the Shahnamah, the tenth-century epic of ancient Persian heroes. He liked all of the chapters, the shahs of old, Feridoun, Zal, and Rudabeh. But his favorite story, and mine, was "Rostam and Sohrab," the tale of the great warrior Rostam and his fleet-footed horse, Rakhsh. Rostam mortally wounds his valiant nemesis, Sohrab, in battle, only to discover that Sohrab is his long-lost son. Stricken with grief, Rostam hears his son's dying words: If thou art indeed my father, then hast thou stained thy sword in the life-blood of thy son. And thou didst it of thine obstinacy. For I sought to turn thee unto love, and I implored of thee thy name, for I thought to behold in thee the tokens recounted of my mother. But I appealed unto thy heart in vain, and now is the time gone for meeting... "Read it again please, Amir agha," Hassan would say. Sometimes tears pooled in Hassan's eyes as I read him this passage, and I always wondered whom he wept for, the grief-stricken Rostam who tears his clothes and covers his head with ashes, or the dying Sohrab who only longed for his father's love? Personally, I couldn't see the tragedy in Rostam's fate. After all, didn't all fathers in their secret hearts harbor a desire to kill their sons?"

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: betrayal Analysis: Although you can read the story of "Rostam and Sohrab" as an allegory for Baba and Amir's relationship, we think the most obvious parallel is to Amir and Hassan. Amir doesn't kill Hassan directly, but he does bring about Hassan's exile from Baba's household. This exile eventually places Hassan in a situation where he is killed. Amir, to some extent, takes the blame for Hassan's death. Like Rostam, Amir figures out much too late who fathered Hassan. We think you could very easily substitute "brothers" for "sons" in the final sentence: "After all, don't we all in our secret hearts harbor a desire to kill our brothers?" ("Cain and Abel" seems just as appropriate as "Rostam and Sohrab.")

"I flinched, like I'd been slapped. My heart sank and I almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan's final sacrifice for me. If he'd said no, Baba would have believed him because we all knew Hassan never lied. And if Baba believed him, then I'd be the accused; I would have to explain and I would be revealed for what I really was. Baba would never, ever forgive me. And that led to another understanding: Hassan knew. He knew I'd seen everything in that alley, that I'd stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time. I loved him in that moment, loved him more than I'd ever loved anyone, and I wanted to tell them all that I was the snake in the grass, the monster in the lake. I wasn't worthy of this sacrifice; I was a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And I would have told, except that a part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over with soon. Baba would dismiss them, there would be some pain, but life would move on. I wanted that, to move on, to forget, to start with a clean slate. I wanted to be able to breathe again."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: betrayal Analysis: Amir is right about one thing: if Baba knew the extent of Amir's deception, he would disown Amir. Meaning, if Baba knew Amir planted the watch and cash, and that Amir abandoned Hassan when Hassan really needed him, Baba's rage would know no bounds. Notice Amir never tells Baba what happened to Hassan, or how he brought about Ali and Hassan's departure. Even after Amir and Baba arrive in America, Amir doesn't confess his misdeeds. Even when Baba is on his deathbed, Amir remains silent. In this way, Amir is totally and tragically wrong in saying he's "[g]lad this would all be over with soon."

"I stopped watching, turned away from the alley. Something warm was running down my wrist. I blinked, saw I was still biting down on my fist, hard enough to draw blood from the knuckles. I realized something else. I was weeping. From just around the corner, I could hear Assef's quick, rhythmic grunts. I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan - the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past - and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: betrayal Analysis: Amir leaves Hassan in the alleyway. This passage, along with the passage in which Amir plants a wad of cash and his watch under Hassan's mattress, counts as Amir's two major betrayals of Hassan. Perhaps because of his guilt, Amir never tells Hassan he saw what happened in the alley. Which brings up an interesting side question: Do you think Amir's silence is a worse betrayal than Amir's cowardice?

"Early that spring, a few days before the new school year started, Baba and I were planting tulips in the garden. Most of the snow had melted and the hills in the north were already dotted with patches of green grass. It was a cool, gray morning, and Baba was squatting next to me, digging the soil and planting the bulbs I handed to him. He was telling me how most people thought it was better to plant tulips in the fall and how that wasn't true, when I came right out and said it. "Baba, have you ever thought about get ting new servants?""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: betrayal Analysis: Amir's question, of course, must pain Baba quite a bit since Hassan is his son. It seems Amir can't handle anything that reminds him of his cowardice, even if it's his best friend. Unlike Amir, Baba keeps the reminders of his guilt around. (Those reminders would be Ali and Hassan since Baba slept with Ali's wife and fathered Hassan.) Do you blame Amir absolutely for Hassan and Ali's departure? Does some unconscious part of Amir send Hassan and Ali away so he can have Baba all to himself?

"I thought about a comment Rahim Khan had made just before we hung up. Made it in passing, almost as an afterthought. I closed my eyes and saw him at the other end of the scratchy long-distance line, saw him with his lips slightly parted, head tilted to one side. And again, something in his bottomless black eyes hinted at an unspoken secret between us. Except now I knew he knew. My suspicions had been right all those years. He knew about Assef, the kite, the money, the watch with the lightning bolt hands. He had always known. Come. There is a way to be good again, Rahim Khan had said on the phone just before hanging up. Said it in passing, almost as an afterthought."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: betrayal Analysis: It's fitting that Rahim Khan points Amir toward Sohrab - a boy who's being abused by Assef - as a way to redeem himself. ("There is a way to be good again.") Basically, Rahim Khan is saying to Amir: "Here's how you can undo the damage you lavished on Hassan." By saving Sohrab, intervention will replace passivity for Amir. While we're on the topic of redemption: voice also replaces silence through Amir's narration of the novel. After all these years, Amir has said nary a word about the alleyway and the mattress and now he lets loose 371 pages worth of words. The man needs some redemption.

"He turned to me. A few sweat beads rolled from his bald scalp. "Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha?" Suddenly I decided to toy with him a little. "I don't know. Would you?" "I'd sooner eat dirt," he said with a look of indignation. "Really? You'd do that?" He threw me a puzzled look. "Do what?" "Eat dirt if I told you to," I said. I knew I was being cruel, like when I'd taunt him if he didn't know some big word. But there was something fascinating - albeit in a sick way - about teasing Hassan. Kind of like when we used to play insect torture. Except now, he was the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: betrayal Analysis: Jeez, Amir. Notice how Hosseini prepares us for Amir's major betrayal of Hassan. Hosseini has Amir betray Hassan - or at least be cruel to Hassan - in all sorts of small ways. He inserts his own stories into the tales he reads to Hassan. He flaunts his literacy. He doesn't defend Hassan from the neighborhood boys and almost blurts out that Hassan is only his servant and not a friend.

"[Amir:] "Well, Mr. Faisal thinks that it would really help if we could...if we could ask you to stay in a home for kids for a while." [Sohrab:] "Home for kids?" he said, his smile fading. "You mean an orphanage?" [Amir:] "It would only be for a little while." [Sohrab:] "No," he said. "No, please." [Amir:] "Sohrab, it would be for just a little while. I promise." [Sohrab:] "You promised you'd never put me in one of those places, Amir agha," he said. His voice was breaking, tears pooling in his eyes."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: betrayal Analysis: Just when you thought Amir did something nice for a change...he goes back on his promise to Sohrab. Amir's broken promise has disastrous consequences: Sohrab tries to kill himself. Does Amir betray yet another person? Or, is this "betrayal" out of Amir's hands? If so, does Amir's helplessness in this situation force you to reinterpret Amir's earlier abandonment of Hassan? Does this passage suggest Amir really wasn't to blame for abandoning Hassan?

"Then I took a couple of the envelopes of cash from the pile of gifts and my watch, and tiptoed out. I paused before Baba's study and listened in. He'd been in there all morning, making phone calls. He was talking to someone now, about a shipment of rugs due to arrive next week. I went downstairs, crossed the yard, and entered Ali and Hassan's living quarters by the loquat tree. I lifted Hassan's mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it. I waited another thirty minutes. Then I knocked on Baba's door and told what I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: betrayal Analysis: People do something terrible in order not to do any more terrible things. This bizarre logic guides Amir. In order to not lie anymore, Amir needs Baba to fire Hassan and Ali. We find it quite sad that Ali, through no fault of his own, gets caught up in Amir's guilt and jealousy. Seriously, Ali is even more innocent than Hassan - Ali had no part in the alleyway incident and has served Baba faithfully his whole life. Sometimes Amir is a jerk.

"I felt like a man sliding down a steep cliff, clutching at shrubs and tangles of brambles and coming up empty-handed. The room was swooping up and down, swaying side to side. "Did Hassan know?" I said through lips that didn't feel like my own. Rahim Khan closed his eyes. Shook his head. [...] "Please think, Amir Jan. It was a shameful situation. People would talk. All that a man had back then, all that he was, was his honor, his name, and if people talked...We couldn't tell anyone, surely you can see that." He reached for me, but I shed his hand. Headed for the door. [...] I opened the door and turned to him. "Why? What can you possibly say to me? I'm thirty-eight years old and I've just found out my whole life is one big ****ing lie! What can you possibly say to make things better? Nothing. Not a ******* thing!""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: betrayal Analysis: Rahim Khan tells Amir about Baba's betrayal of him, Hassan, and Ali. Here's the story: Baba slept with Sanaubar, Ali's wife, and fathered Hassan. But Baba never told Amir or Hassan about it. We wonder if Rahim Khan's revelation makes life easier or harder for Amir. On the one hand, Amir sees, for the first time, the similarities between himself and his father. Now he knows he wasn't the only one walking around with a ton of bricks (a.k.a. secret guilt). But does this really help Amir? Is it comforting at all to know his father made similar mistakes? Amir's betrayal of Hassan brings him closer to Baba in ways he couldn't have predicted. Although the two don't share the same secrets, they do share the secrecy of guilt.

"We said our good-byes early the next morning. Just before I climbed into the Land Cruiser, I thanked Wahid for his hospitality. He pointed to the little house behind him. "This is your home," he said. His three sons were standing in the doorway watching us. The little one was wearing the watch - it dangled around his twiggy wrist."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: betrayal Analysis: To undo his actions - or pardon himself - Amir gives Wahid's sons a watch. Where did we see a watch before in this novel? Oh yeah, the time Amir put a watch under Hassan's mattress in order to get his half-brother dismissed from the household. Now that we think about it, this story has a lot in common with Oedipus the King and other Greek tragedies. (Here, let me betray you. What's that? You're my brother? Flip.)

"But we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either. I spent most of the first twelve years of my life playing with Hassan. Sometimes, my entire childhood seems like one long lazy summer day with Hassan, chasing each other between tangles of trees in my father's yard, playing hide-and-seek, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, insect torture - with our crowning achievement undeniably the time we plucked the stinger off a bee and tied a string around the poor thing to yank it back every time it took flight."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: friendship Analysis: Amir lays out the opposing argument just prior to this paragraph. In it, he says ethnicity will always define a relationship. We believe Hosseini really wants us to grapple with Amir's contradictory stances: Does Amir's friendship with Hassan ever get past history, ethnicity, society, and religion? Later, Amir will justify his cowardice in the alleyway by asking himself if he really has to defend Hassan (since Hassan is a Hazara). Does Amir ever get past his prejudices? We're really not sure about this one. Hosseini devotes the entire novel to this question.

"Ali and Baba grew up together as childhood playmates - at least until polio crippled Ali's leg - just like Hassan and I grew up a generation later. Baba was always telling us about the mischief he and Ali used to cause, and Ali would shake his head and say, "But, Agha sahib, tell them who was the architect of the mischief and who the poor laborer?" Baba would laugh and throw his arm around Ali. But in none of his stories did Baba ever refer to Ali as his friend."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: friendship Analysis: Baba and Ali's friendship parallels Amir and Hassan's on a number of levels. First, as this passage indicates, there's a similar pattern of leadership (and power): both Baba and Amir have dominant roles in each friendship. And, lest you forget, Baba betrays Ali much like Amir betrays Hassan. As they say, two peas in a pod. Or, maybe it would be four peas in a pod. We're not sure. Anyways, after Amir learns that Baba lied to him for years, he says: "Baba and I were more alike than I'd ever known. We had both betrayed the people who would have given their lives for us" (18.7). Four peas in a pod.

"Lying awake in bed that night, I thought of Soraya Taheri's sickle-shaped birthmark, her gently hooked nose, and the way her luminous eyes had fleetingly held mine. My heart stuttered at the thought of her."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: friendship Analysis: Soraya doesn't sound that hot here. From Hosseini's description, we picture the witch in "Sleeping Beauty": her nose is hooked like a scythe, and her eyes are glowing in a potion-induced mania. However, we do think Soraya's sickle-shaped birthmark should remind you of someone else in the book. Give up? That's right: Hassan. (Hassan has a harelip.) Why do you think Hosseini compare these two characters through their physical features? What else do they have in common?

"Then he [Ali] would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break. Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: friendship Analysis: There's a primal closeness between Amir and Hassan. Later, we'll find out the two boys have the same father, but notice how Hosseini is laying the groundwork for that revelation. The two boys might as well be brothers: they learn to walk together, they learn to speak together, and they feed from the same breast. Which brings up an interesting question: What does Rahim Khan's revelation - that Amir and Hassan are half-brothers - really change? Aren't the two already brothers in everything? Or does "blood" fundamentally change Amir's relationship with Hassan?

"[Assef:] "But before you sacrifice yourself for him, think about this: Would he do the same for you? Have you ever wondered why he never includes you in games when he has guests? Why he only plays with you when no one else is around? I'll tell you why, Hazara. Because to him, you're nothing but an ugly pet. Something he can play with when he's bored, something he can kick when he's angry. Don't ever fool yourself and think you're something more." "Amir agha and I are friends," Hassan said. He looked flushed. "Friends?" Assef said, laughing. "You pathetic fool! Someday you'll wake up from your little fantasy and learn just how good of a friend he is. Now, bas! Enough of this. Give us that kite.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: friendship Analysis: This is a fairly complex scene. Assef, before he assaults and rapes Hassan, asks Hassan whether he really wants to sacrifice himself for Amir. We know Amir is listening in - and watching - this exchange between Assef and Hassan. In a way, Assef's speech is not prophetic but descriptive: Amir is abandoning Hassan right now. However, we wonder if Assef's description is inaccurate. Is Assef describing his own relationship with Hazaras or Amir's with Hassan? Sure, sometimes Amir does cruel things to Hassan, but he also reads to Hassan and spends almost all his free time with Hassan. Amir may hesitate to call Hassan his friend, but perhaps that's because neither "friend" nor "servant" really describes Hassan. "Brother" might do the trick, but Amir has no idea at this point.

"Sometimes, up in those trees, I talked Hassan into firing walnuts with his slingshot at the neighbor's one-eyed German shepherd. Hassan never wanted to, but if I asked, really asked, he wouldn't deny me. Hassan never denied me anything. And he was deadly with his slingshot. Hassan's father, Ali, used to catch us and get mad, or as mad as someone as gentle as Ali could ever get. He would wag his finger and wave us down from the tree. He would take the mirror and tell us what his mother had told him, that the devil shone mirrors too, shone them to distract Muslims during prayer. "And he laughs while he does it," he always added, scowling at his son. "Yes, Father," Hassan would mumble, looking down at his feet. But he never told on me. Never told that the mirror, like shooting walnuts at the neighbor's dog, was always my idea."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: friendship Analysis: This passage shows up early in the novel and really tells us quite a bit about Amir and Hassan's friendship. Hassan protects and defends Amir and, foreshadowing later events in the novel, refuses to tell on Amir. (Hassan will later take the blame for the wad of cash and the watch.) We should also note that Amir seems like the gang leader in this passage, getting the two boys into trouble. Does Amir control the relationship? Is this why Hassan often takes the blame for things? Does Amir ever take responsibility for anything in the novel?

"Next to me, Sohrab was breathing rapidly through his nose. The spool rolled in his palms, the tendons in his scarred wrists like rubab strings. Then I blinked and, for just a moment, the hands holding the spool were the chipped-nailed, calloused hands of a harelipped boy. I heard a crow cawing somewhere and I looked up. The park shimmered with snow so fresh, so dazzling white, it burned my eyes. It sprinkled soundlessly from the branches of white-clad trees. I smelled turnip qurma now. Dried mulberries. Sour oranges. Sawdust and walnuts. The muffled quiet, snow-quiet, was deafening. Then far away, across the stillness, a voice calling us home, the voice of a man who dragged his right leg."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: friendship Analysis: We think this is one of the most beautiful passages in the book. Hosseini moves effortlessly between the past and present. Sohrab becomes Hassan, and the park in Fremont, California becomes a snow-quiet Kabul. The smells of Kabul mix with the smells of the New Year celebration in the park. Perhaps, at least in the space of this passage, Amir does find peace. America allowed Amir to escape his past for so many years; but, in this moment, the two homelands merge. Ali calls Amir home, and Amir doesn't seem to mind.

""I know," he said, breaking our embrace. "Inshallah, we'll celebrate later. Right now, I'm going to run that blue kite for you," he said. He dropped the spool and took off running, the hem of his green chapan dragging in the snow behind him. "Hassan!" I called. "Come back with it!" He was already turning the street corner, his rubber boots kicking up snow. He stopped, turned. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "For you a thousand times over!" he said. Then he smiled his Hassan smile and disappeared around the corner. The next time I saw him smile unabashedly like that was twenty-six years later, in a faded Polaroid photograph."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: friendship Analysis: Yet again, Hassan demonstrates his loyalty and devotion to Amir. If we were to judge Amir and Hassan's friendship by actions and not simply expressions of loyalty, the score would be pretty lopsided. (Of course, Amir saves Hassan's son at the end of the book from a pathological pedophile so that counts for something.) We also want to point out the irony in Hassan's reply: "For you a thousand times over!" Amir will develop a pretty nasty case of insomnia as the guilt piles up inside him. Really, Amir returns to the alleyway thousands of times in his memory before he comes to peace with his cowardice. And so the phrase "a thousand times over" is colored with some pretty devastating irony. Yes, Hosseini is using irony again.

"When we got to Kabul, I [Rahim Khan] discovered that Hassan had no intention of moving into the house. "But all these rooms are empty, Hassan jan. No one is going to live in them," I said. But he would not. He said it was a matter of ihtiram, a matter of respect. He and Farzana moved their things into the hut in the backyard, where he was born. I pleaded for them to move into one of the guest bedrooms upstairs, but Hassan would hear nothing of it. "What will Amir agha think?" he said to me. "What will he think when he comes back to Kabul after the war and finds that I have assumed his place in the house?" Then, in mourning for your father, Hassan wore black for the next forty days."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: friendship Analysis: You may be confused by the voice here. It's actually not Amir - Rahim Khan gets one chapter in the book. Rahim Khan recounts his trip to Hazarajat to find Hassan and bring him back to the house in Kabul. When Hassan does move back to the house with Rahim Khan, he refuses to live where Baba and Amir lived. Does Hassan's refusal suggest that Hassan is only Amir's servant and the two never achieved an equal friendship? (Side question: Does Hassan sense - on some unconscious level - Baba's true relationship to him? Is that why he mourns Baba for forty days?)

""Think of something good," Baba said in my ear. "Something happy." Something good. Something happy. I let my mind wander. I let it come: Friday afternoon in Paghman. An open field of grass speckled with mulberry trees in blossom. Hassan and I stand ankle-deep in untamed grass, I am tugging on the line, the spool spinning in Hassan's calloused hands, our eyes turned up to the kite in the sky. Not a word passes between us, not because we have nothing to say, but because we don't have to say anything - that's how it is between people who are each other's first memories, people who have fed from the same breast. A breeze stirs the grass and Hassan lets the spool roll. The kite spins, dips, steadies. Our twin shadows dance on the rippling grass. From somewhere over the low brick wall at the other end of the field, we hear chatter and laughter and the chirping of a water fountain. And music, some thing old and familiar, I think it's Ya Mowlah on rubab strings. Someone calls our names over the wall, says it's time for tea and cake."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: friendship Analysis: You need some context for this quote. Baba and Amir are on their way to Pakistan, but they're not traveling by taxi or bus. They're in the belly of an oil tanker along with dozens of other Afghans. Baba tells Amir to think of something "good," something "happy." So what does Amir think of? His childhood with Hassan. We believe this passage proves Amir's (brotherly) love for Hassan. Notice that Amir doesn't recall a special moment with Baba, or even his books or poetry. He thinks of Hassan.

""Because - " he [Sohrab] said, gasping and hitching between sobs, "because I don't want them to see me...I'm so dirty." He sucked in his breath and let it out in a long, wheezy cry. "I'm so dirty and full of sin." [Amir:] "You're not dirty, Sohrab," I said. [Sohrab:] "Those men - " [Amir:] "You're not dirty at all." [Sohrab:] " - they did things...the bad man and the other two...they did things...did things to me." [Amir:] "You're not dirty, and you're not full of sin." I touched his arm again and he drew away."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: innocence Analysis: Although Sohrab misses his father and mother (and grandmother), he admits he doesn't want to see them. Or, rather, them to see him. All the terrible things Assef and the guards did to him has made him feel "dirty" and guilty. Sohrab's father, Hassan, seems like the most lovable guy in the world. Hassan does, however, hide his tragedy from others, compounding Amir's guilt. How does Amir hide the fact that he abandoned Hassan? Does Baba hide anything? What about Soraya? Why do all these characters hide so much? Will Sohrab, like them, hide his tragic experience?

""Bia, bia, my boy," the Talib said, calling Sohrab to him. Sohrab went to him, head down, stood between his thighs. The Talib wrapped his arms around the boy. "How talented he is, nay, my Hazara boy!" he said. His hands slid down the child's back, then up, felt under his armpits. One of the guards elbowed the other and snickered. The Talib told them to leave us alone. "Yes, Agha sahib," they said as they exited. The Talib spun the boy around so he faced me. He locked his arms around Sohrab's belly, rested his chin on the boy's shoulder. Sohrab looked down at his feet, but kept stealing shy, furtive glances at me. The man's hand slid up and down the boy's belly. Up and down, slowly, gently."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: innocence Analysis: Assef is so evil. We wonder, though, how much Assef (and the guards) have affected Sohrab. Sohrab stares at his feet and shyly glances at Amir. Don't these gestures still have something innocent in them? Later, in their hotel room, Sohrab will tell Amir how "dirty" he feels, but these glances suggest that Sohrab, like Hassan, retains an essential goodness and innocence despite the evil of the world around him.

"The Russian soldier thrust his face into the rear of the truck. He was humming the wedding song and drumming his finger on the edge of the tailgate. Even in the dim light of the moon, I saw the glazed look in his eyes as they skipped from passenger to passenger. Despite the cold, sweat streamed from his brow. His eyes settled on the young woman wearing the black shawl. He spoke in Russian to Karim without taking his eyes off her. Karim gave a curt reply in Russian, which the soldier returned with an even curter retort. The Afghan soldier said some thing too, in a low, reasoning voice. But the Russian soldier shouted something that made the other two flinch. I could feel Baba tightening up next to me. Karim cleared his throat, dropped his head. Said the soldier wanted a half hour with the lady in the back of the truck."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: innocence Analysis: Eek. The Russian soldier sings a wedding song while he chooses a woman to rape - that's really creepy. Baba, unlike Amir, defends the possible victim and confronts the Russian soldier to prevent a horrific event. We wonder, then, if redemptive acts, like this one from Baba, can return a character to innocence. Don't forget that Baba betrayed Ali by sleeping with Sanaubar. So we wonder if Baba redeems himself, his honor, and something like innocence by standing up to the Russian soldier. Likewise, does Amir regain some measure of innocence? Or does one never regain lost innocence?

"I unfolded the letter. It was written in Farsi. No dots were omitted, no crosses forgotten, no words blurred together - the handwriting was almost childlike in its neatness."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: innocence Analysis: First, it's amazing that Hassan learns how to read and write as an adult. But even more amazing is the aura of innocence still surrounding Hassan. Hassan lives through a tragic attack at a young age. His best friend, Amir, betrays him. He and his father leave their home. War comes to Afghanistan. But through all this, Hassan holds onto something like innocence.

"Tomorrow is the tenth day of Dhul-Hijjah, the last month of the Muslim calendar, and the first of three days of Eid Al-Adha, or Eid-e-Qorban, as Afghans call it - a day to celebrate how the prophet Ibrahim almost sacrificed his own son for God. Baba has handpicked the sheep again this year, a powder white one with crooked black ears."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: innocence Analysis: Hassan certainly meets the Hebrew's requirement of the sacrificial animal: purity. Does Baba in some way play the Ibrahim role and sacrifice Hassan because Hassan is a Hazara? Or does Amir sacrifice Hassan? Do Amir and Baba play the same role - are they both Ibrahim? Does Baba - by refusing to love Amir unconditionally - end up sacrificing Amir? Who is the victim here? If this were a multiple choice test, we might choose "D. All of the above." We can't take the test for you, though.

"We chased the Kochi, the nomads who passed through Kabul on their way to the mountains of the north. We would hear their caravans approaching our neighborhood, the mewling of their sheep, the baaing of their goats, the jingle of bells around their camels' necks. We'd run outside to watch the caravan plod through our street, men with dusty, weather-beaten faces and women dressed in long, colorful shawls, beads, and silver bracelets around their wrists and ankles. We hurled pebbles at their goats. We squirted water on their mules. I'd make Hassan sit on the Wall of Ailing Corn and fire pebbles with his slingshot at the camels' rears."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: innocence Analysis: Is this from the movie My Girl or is it in a novel about betrayal and redemption? There's so much innocence: cute little animals, magical caravans, and playful violence without any real consequences. (Compare the violence here with the later blinding of Assef.) There is, however, an emerging violence. Soon, Baba will sacrifice a lamb (notice the livestock here) for a Muslim holy day and Amir will watch as Assef rapes Hassan. In that passage, Amir even compares Hassan's resignation to a lamb's. For now, though, everything is peachy.

"He had withered - there was simply no other word for it. His eyes gave me a hollow look and no recognition at all registered in them. His shoulders hunched and his cheeks sagged like they were too tired to cling to the bone beneath. His father, who'd owned a movie theater in Kabul, was telling Baba how, three months before, a stray bullet had struck his wife in the temple and killed her. Then he told Baba about Kamal. I caught only snippets of it: Should have never let him go alone...always so handsome, you know...four of them...tried to fight...God...took him...bleeding down there...his pants...doesn't talk any more...just stares..."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: innocence Analysis: On their way to Pakistan, Amir and Baba discover that Kamal, one of the boys who stood by as Assef raped Hassan, was raped in wartime Kabul. Kamal's experience mirrors both Hassan's and Sohrab's. Four people are involved in the rape (Amir, Wali, Kamal as bystanders and Assef as the perpetrator). Like Sohrab, Kamal refuses to speak. And, like Hassan, Kamal appears hollow and withdrawn. On a larger scale, though, Hosseini comments on Afghanistan's loss of innocence. War brings about Kamal's tragedy and the tragic loss of Kamal's mother. Often (but not always), the events in the lives of individuals in The Kite Runner can be mapped onto the nation of Afghanistan.

"Every winter, districts in Kabul held a kite-fighting tournament. And if you were a boy living in Kabul, the day of the tournament was undeniably the highlight of the cold season. I never slept the night before the tournament. I'd roll from side to side, make shadow animals on the wall, even sit on the balcony in the dark, a blanket wrapped around me. I felt like a soldier trying to sleep in the trenches the night before a major battle. And that wasn't so far off. In Kabul, fighting kites was a little like going to war."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: innocence Analysis: There's an innocence to Amir's insomnia here. Although Hosseini doesn't spend a lot of time talking about Amir's sleeplessness, he does mention it a few times. Amir starts to have trouble sleeping after he betrays Hassan - and Amir never really resolves his sleeplessness in the novel. At this point, though, Amir stays up during the night because nervous energy prevents him from falling asleep. Later guilt, anxiety, and all the darker forces of the brain will torment Amir.

"A scrawny boy in a tweed jacket grabbed my elbow and spoke into my ear. Asked me if I wanted to buy some "sexy pictures." "Very sexy, Agha," he said, his alert eyes darting side to side - reminding me of a girl who, a few years earlier, had tried to sell me crack in the Tenderloin district in San Francisco. The kid peeled one side of his jacket open and gave me a fleeting glance of his sexy pictures: postcards of Hindi movies showing doe-eyed sultry actresses, fully dressed, in the arms of their leading men. "So sexy," he repeated."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: innocence Analysis: There's some charming innocence here in the midst of poverty and oppression by a totalitarian regime. This kid is trying to sell pictures of fully-clothed actresses.

"Assef knelt behind Hassan, put his hands on Hassan's hips and lifted his bare buttocks. He kept one hand on Hassan's back and undid his own belt buckle with his free hand. He unzipped his jeans. Dropped his underwear. He positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn't struggle. Didn't even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: innocence Analysis: We're especially frightened by this passage because Assef is only a boy, too. Can Assef even know the repercussions of his act? Does Assef, too, despite his cruelty, retain a type of innocence? When children are cruel to each other are they still innocent even in their cruelty? Don't forget, either, about Amir who's watching the event. In fact, you might be able to say that Amir's abandonment and betrayal of Hassan affects Amir more than it affects Hassan. Hassan retains - or at least returns to - some measure of innocence. But Amir is irrevocably changed.

"The other present Baba gave me - and he didn't wait around for me to open this one - was a wristwatch. It had a blue face with gold hands in the shape of lightning bolts. I didn't even try it on. I tossed it on the pile of toys in the corner. The only gift I didn't toss on that mound was Rahim Khan's leather-bound notebook. That was the only one that didn't feel like blood money."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: literature and writing Analysis: Amir feels like all his father's gifts are "blood money" because, as he says, "Baba would have never thrown me a party like that if I hadn't won the tournament" (9.1). And to win the tournament - or at least to get a hold of the blue kite - Amir betrays Hassan. So, in a way, Baba's gifts result from Amir's regrettable act, his abandonment of Hassan. To earn Baba's love, Amir has to betray Hassan and thus Amir can't revel in his father's love without feeling guilty. That's why Rahim Khan's gift is so special: Rahim Khan's love isn't dependent on Amir's victory in the kite tournament. How does Rahim Khan's gift encourage Amir to become a writer?

""I think I'll major in English," I said. I winced inside, waiting for his reply. [Baba:] "English?" [Amir:] "Creative writing." He considered this. Sipped his tea. "Stories, you mean. You'll make up stories." I looked down at my feet. [Baba:] "They pay for that, making up stories?" [Amir:] "If you're good," I said. "And if you get discovered." [Baba:] "How likely is that, getting discovered?" "It happens," I said. He nodded. "And what will you do while you wait to get good and get discovered? How will you earn money? If you marry, how will you support your khanum?" I couldn't lift my eyes to meet his. "I'll...find a job." "Oh," he said. "Wah wah! So, if I understand, you'll study several years to earn a degree, then you'll get a chatti job like mine, one you could just as easily land today, on the small chance that your degree might someday help you get...discovered." He took a deep breath and sipped his tea. Grunted something about medical school, law school, and "real work.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: literature and writing Analysis: Amir has to be discouraged by Baba's response here. Majoring in Creative Writing - as Baba points out - won't land Amir a job and will likely force Amir to take a job he would qualify for now. Amir also won't be able to support a family with writing. All that sounds glum. But none of it compares, we think, with the proverbial drop-kick to the stomach Baba bestows on writing. "Stories, you mean. You'll make up stories." What is writing according to Baba? Fabrication. Writing sounds so silly when Baba says it that way. Is Baba's definition of writing reductive or is it clear-sighted? What is Baba missing about Amir's love for writing? Is he even been aware of Amir's love for writing?

"One day, I came home from the pharmacy with Baba's morphine pills. Just as I shut the door, I caught a glimpse of Soraya quickly sliding something under Baba's blanket. "Hey, I saw that! What were you two doing?" I said. "Nothing," Soraya said, smiling. "Liar." I lifted Baba's blanket. "What's this?" I said, though as soon as I picked up the leather-bound book, I knew. I traced my fingers along the gold-stitched borders. I remembered the fireworks the night Rahim Khan had given it to me, the night of my thirteenth birthday, flares sizzling and exploding into bouquets of red, green, and yellow. "I can't believe you can write like this," Soraya said. Baba dragged his head off the pillow. "I put her up to it. I hope you don't mind." I gave the notebook back to Soraya and left the room. Baba hated it when I cried."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: literature and writing Analysis: Baba finally hears Amir's stories after all these years. It's enough to move Amir to tears and enough to make us sniffle a little too. Hosseini also cleverly inserts a description of what good writing might be like: "Rahim Khan had given it to me, the night of my thirteenth birthday, flares sizzling and exploding into bouquets of red, green, and yellow." Doesn't fiction seem like that sometimes? The plot pauses and the prose bursts into a lyrical moment of ridiculous beauty.

"That Hassan would grow up illiterate like Ali and most Hazaras had been decided the minute he had been born, perhaps even the moment he had been conceived in Sanaubar's unwelcoming womb - after all, what use did a servant have for the written word? But despite his illiteracy, or maybe because of it, Hassan was drawn to the mystery of words, seduced by a secret world forbidden to him. I read him poems and stories, sometimes riddles - though I stopped reading those when I saw he was far better at solving them than I was."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: literature and writing Analysis: Here, literature isn't sugar and spice and everything nice. Amir actually uses his mastery of reading to belittle Hassan. Even though Hassan sees the beauty of literature (like Amir), Amir actually stops reading Hassan riddles when the activity no longer confirms Amir's superior status. Sometimes we think of literature as self-exploration, or a way to bring human beings together. Not here, pal. Literature is power. And Amir uses its power against Hassan - who, unlike Amir, seems to have Baba's love.

"One day, in July 1973, I played another little trick on Hassan. I was reading to him, and suddenly I strayed from the written story. I pretended I was reading from the book, flipping pages regularly, but I had abandoned the text altogether, taken over the story, and made up my own. Hassan, of course, was oblivious to this. To him, the words on the page were a scramble of codes, indecipherable, mysterious. Words were secret doorways and I held all the keys."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: literature and writing Analysis: Like in the previous quote, Amir uses his literacy to demonstrate his power over Hassan (see 4.12). But Hosseini might be up to something else here, too. Amir begins to insert his own stories into the texts he's supposedly reading to Hassan. Zoom out to the novel as a whole. To whom is Amir telling his story? Does The Kite Runner read a little bit like a confession? Is Hassan (along with Baba) Amir's audience? Is Amir, through the novel, trying to explain his betrayal - and later redemption - to Hassan?

"In school, we used to play a game called Sherjangi, or "Battle of the Poems." The Farsi teacher moderated it and it went something like this: You recited a verse from a poem and your opponent had sixty seconds to reply with a verse that began with the same letter that ended yours. Everyone in my class wanted me on their team, because by the time I was eleven, I could recite dozens of verses from Khayyám, Hãfez, or Rumi's famous Masnawi. One time, I took on the whole class and won. I told Baba about it later that night, but he just nodded, muttered, "Good." That was how I escaped my father's aloofness, in my dead mother's books. That and Hassan, of course. I read everything, Rumi, Hãfez, Saadi, Victor Hugo, Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Ian Fleming. When I had finished my mother's books - not the boring history ones, I was never much into those, but the novels, the epics - I started spending my allowance on books. I bought one a week from the bookstore near Cinema Park, and stored them in cardboard boxes when I ran out of shelf room."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: literature and writing Analysis: Literature and writing play a more important role in The Kite Runner than you might think. Hosseini mentions books and big names occasionally, but not often enough to construct a neon sign reading AMIR IS GOING TO BECOME A WRITER. But the fact that Amir does choose to become a writer is very important. It's tied to his complicated relationship with Baba. As this passage points out, writing and reading become an escape from Baba's coldness. However, as we gather later in the novel, Amir writes about Baba in his own works of fiction. So, later in the novel, writing doesn't allow Amir to simply escape his father's distance but instead helps him enter it and understand it.

"As always, it was Rahim Khan who rescued me. He held out his hand and favored me with a smile that had nothing feigned about it. "May I have it, Amir jan? I would very much like to read it." Baba hardly ever used the term of endearment jan when he addressed me. [...] An hour later, as the evening sky dimmed, the two of them drove off in my father's car to attend a party. On his way out, Rahim Khan hunkered before me and handed me my story and another folded piece of paper. He flashed a smile and winked. "For you. Read it later." Then he paused and added a single word that did more to encourage me to pursue writing than any compliment any editor has ever paid me. That word was Bravo."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: literature and writing Analysis: Thank goodness for Rahim Khan. He does more to encourage Amir's writing than Baba ever does. In fact, Baba more or less ignores Amir's interest in writing until Amir decides to major in English in the United States. But - we must add - all this sets up the very moving scene when Soraya reads Amir's stories to Baba. Of course, Rahim Khan could never replace Baba (who is larger than life throughout Amir's boyhood), but in what ways is Rahim Khan a second father to Amir? In what ways is Rahim Khan a better father than Baba? Or does Rahim Khan remain only a literary mentor?

""Amir is going to be a great writer," Baba said. I did a double take at this. "He has finished his first year of college and earned A's in all of his courses." "Junior college," I corrected him. "Mashallah," General Taheri said. "Will you be writing about our country, history perhaps? Economics?" "I write fiction," I said, thinking of the dozen or so short stories I had written in the leather-bound notebook Rahim Khan had given me, wondering why I was suddenly embarrassed by them in this man's presence. "Ah, a storyteller," the general said. "Well, people need stories to divert them at difficult times like this.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: literature and writing Analysis: The General intends to slam writing here as if he's a WWF wrestler and writing is a competitor who just insulted his mother. The General dismisses fiction as mere storytelling. As a diversion for people during "difficult times." How accurate is the General's comments? Does Amir write for diversion in "difficult times"? Do you think Amir feels guilty because he's not writing about Afghan history? Does The Kite Runner itself fulfill the General's requirements for serious writing? Or would the General call it mere storytelling?

""So what do you do in America, Amir agha?" Wahid asked. "I'm a writer," I said. I thought I heard Farid chuckle at that. "A writer?" Wahid said, clearly impressed. "Do you write about Afghanistan?" "Well, I have. But not currently," I said. My last novel, A Season for Ashes, had been about a university professor who joins a clan of gypsies after he finds his wife in bed with one of his students. It wasn't a bad book. Some reviewers had called it a "good" book, and one had even used the word "riveting." But suddenly I was embarrassed by it. I hoped Wahid wouldn't ask what it was about. "Maybe you should write about Afghanistan again," Wahid said. "Tell the rest of the world what the Taliban are doing to our country." [Amir:] "Well, I'm not...I'm not quite that kind of writer.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: literature and writing Analysis: We think the plot of A Season for Ashes might be the most ridiculous plot ever. How could Amir not feel guilty as an Afghan writer (or even as a writer in general)? He's not writing about his homeland, or the devastation and destruction there, but instead about a professor who joins a troupe of gypsies. That's silly. We see how A Season for Ashes could be a serious book - both funny and heartbreaking at the same time - but the book seems to have nothing to do with Amir's life. It's "fiction" in the worst sense.

I turned thirteen that summer of 1976, Afghanistan's next to last summer of peace and anonymity. Things between Baba and me were already cooling off again. I think what started it was the stupid comment I'd made the day we were planting tulips, about getting new servants. I regretted saying it - I really did - but I think even if I hadn't, our happy little interlude would have come to an end. Maybe not quite so soon, but it would have. By the end of the summer, the scraping of spoon and fork against the plate had replaced dinner table chatter and Baba had resumed retreating to his study after supper. And closing the door. I'd gone back to thumbing through Hãfez and Khayyám, gnawing my nails down to the cuticles, writing stories. I kept the stories in a stack under my bed, keeping them just in case, though I doubted Baba would ever again ask me to read them to him.

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: literature and writing Analysis: Writing becomes a very complex activity here. Amir stacks his short stories under the bed, hoping Baba will someday want to hear them. Amir also compares writing to a nervous habit like biting his nails. Is writing really an anxiety-based habit? What does Amir have to be anxious about at this point in the story? Why would Amir think writing could help his relationship with his father?

I kissed her cheek and pulled away from the curb. As I drove, I wondered why I was different. Maybe it was because I had been raised by men; I hadn't grown up around women and had never been exposed firsthand to the double standard with which Afghan society sometimes treated them. Maybe it was because Baba had been such an unusual Afghan father, a liberal who had lived by his own rules, a maverick who had disregarded or embraced societal customs as he had seen fit.

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: men and masculinity Analysis: Amir has just dropped off Soraya and wonders about the double standard women are subjected to in Afghan society. It seems like it's OK for men to sleep around before marriage, but it's not OK for women to do the same. (You have to wonder who the men think they're going to sleep with.) We think this passage is important because it points out just how male Amir's household and upbringing were. And since Amir betrays Hassan and is guilty of cowardice, he must have felt all the more isolated in his household. In fact, it seems like Amir craves a feminine mentor in the Kabul house. He reads all his mother's books and writes poetry instead of playing soccer or riding around on a horse with a dead goat in tow.

"Of course, marrying a poet was one thing, but fathering a son who preferred burying his face in poetry books to hunting...well, that wasn't how Baba had envisioned it, I suppose. Real men didn't read poetry - and God forbid they should ever write it! Real men - real boys - played soccer just as Baba had when he had been young. [...]. He signed me up for soccer teams to stir the same passion in me. But I was pathetic, a blundering liability to my own team, always in the way of an opportune pass or unwittingly blocking an open lane. I shambled about the field on scraggly legs, squalled for passes that never came my way. And the harder I tried, waving my arms over my head frantically and screeching, "I'm open! I'm open!" the more I went ignored."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: men and masculinity Analysis: Amir isn't the masculine Pashtun Baba wanted. He isn't a sports-playing, bear-hunting man of a boy. (Really, Baba wants someone like himself.) Said another way, Baba's dislikes Amir as a son. We might question Baba's definition of manhood (what if you don't like sports?) but, as a boy, Amir doesn't have that privilege. Baba is everything to him. Thus, Amir needs to acquire some manliness if he's going to gain Baba's respect. This, of course, leads to disastrous consequences.

"But at the moment, I watched with horror as one of the chapandaz fell off his saddle and was trampled under a score of hooves. His body was tossed and hurled in the stampede like a rag doll, finally rolling to a stop when the melee moved on. He twitched once and lay motionless, his legs bent at unnatural angles, a pool of his blood soaking through the sand. I began to cry. I cried all the way back home. I remember how Baba's hands clenched around the steering wheel. Clenched and unclenched. Mostly, I will never forget Baba's valiant efforts to conceal the disgusted look on his face as he drove in silence."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: men and masculinity Analysis: Baba takes Amir to a Buzkashi tournament. In this sport, a skilled horseman (chapandaz) picks up a goat carcass and tries to drop it into a special circle. The horseman does all this while being harassed by other chapandaz. Sounds pretty gory, right? The chapandaz at this particular tournament is trampled. And Amir cries on the way home, probably shocked by the violence of the sport. This disgusts Baba. (Though, in an odd act of kindness, Baba tries to hide his disgust.) Amir learns his lesson, right? Which is: If you want to be a man, don't cry and don't react to violence. This "lesson" brings up an important question: How does Baba's practice of masculinity actually prevent Amir from confessing his betrayal of Hassan?

"Baba would enlighten me with his politics during those walks with long-winded dissertations. "There are only three real men in this world, Amir," he'd say. He'd count them off on his fingers: America the brash savior, Britain, and Israel. "The rest of them - " he used to wave his hand and make a phht sound " - they're like gossiping old women." [...]. In Baba's view, Israel was an island of "real men" in a sea of Arabs too busy getting fat off their oil to care for their own. "Israel does this, Israel does that," Baba would say in a mock-Arabic accent. "Then do something about it! Take action. You're Arabs, help the Palestinians, then!""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: men and masculinity Analysis: Baba's ideas about masculinity even seep into his politics. America, Britain, and Israel are the only real men in international politics because they take action instead of simply talk. Don't forget, though, how Baba's life changes once he immigrates to America, one of the "masculine" countries. He diminishes in stature; he's no longer throwing lavish parties and building orphanages, but instead working long hours at a gas station. And what caused Baba to move to America? The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, which sounds like a country "taking action." The very qualities - and countries - Baba praises actually ruin him. Is it possible for Hosseini to include any more irony in this novel?

"We saw our first Western together, Rio Bravo with John Wayne, at the Cinema Park, across the street from my favorite bookstore. I remember begging Baba to take us to Iran so we could meet John Wayne."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: men and masculinity Analysis: Have you noticed how many references there are in this novel to American films, especially Westerns? The Western mythologizes its male heroes - they're unnaturally silent, strong, and they accomplish ridiculous feats of endurance. No surprise, then, that Baba and Amir would share a love of American Westerns. Baba because it affirms his brand of masculinity and Amir because it depicts men like his father (men he wishes he could be like).

"I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. That's what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan. That's what I made myself believe. I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba. Was it a fair price? The answer floated to my conscious mind before I could thwart it: He was just a Hazara, wasn't he?"

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: men and masculinity Analysis: In this passage, Amir watches as Assef rapes Hassan. It's horrific and cruel. Somehow, Amir believes he can win his father's love if he brings back the blue kite Hassan ran down. And he's right, to an extent. Following his victory in the kite tournament, Amir and his father become closer than ever before. But Amir is also tragically wrong. Amir ignores - by not defending Hassan - some of his father's most cherished principles: honor, pride, and bravery. In order to seem like a man in his father's eyes, Amir actually does the most shameful thing he could do: abandon (and later betray) Hassan.

"What America and the world needed was a hard man. A man to be reckoned with, someone who took action instead of wringing his hands. That someone came in the form of Ronald Reagan. And when Reagan went on TV and called the Shorawi "the Evil Empire," Baba went out and bought a picture of the grinning president giving a thumbs up. He framed the picture and hung it in our hallway, nailing it right next to the old black-and-white of himself in his thin necktie shaking hands with King Zahir Shah."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: men and masculinity Analysis: It's really no surprise Baba would love Ronald Regan. First off, Regan lets the Soviet Union have it. This should please any Afghan who lived through the Shorawi invasion of 1979. But another aspect of Regan might attract Baba. Regan, as a politician, drew on the American mythology of the West, the gunslinger who sets things right. In his dress and demeanor, Regan reminded Americans of John Wayne, the iconic star of the Western film. Reagan was even in a few Westerns during his acting career. With Baba and Amir's diet of American movies in mind (action flicks, Westerns), Regan must seem like the shining god of masculinity and honor.

"It was Rahim Khan who first referred to him as what eventually became Baba's famous nickname, Toophan agha, or "Mr. Hurricane." It was an apt enough nickname. My father was a force of nature, a towering Pashtun specimen with a thick beard, a wayward crop of curly brown hair as unruly as the man himself, hands that looked capable of uprooting a willow tree, and a black glare that would "drop the devil to his knees begging for mercy," as Rahim Khan used to say. At parties, when all six-foot-five of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: men and masculinity Analysis: It's safe to say that in the novel - at least for Amir - masculinity and Baba are inextricably intertwined. Baba is what it means to be an Afghan man. Here, Amir recounts the utter presence of his father: a huge man with thick hair and a ferocious glare. But we at Shmoop - at least our psychiatry division - think there might be a tiny problem with Amir's picture of his father. This is the stuff of mythology: Amir's father uproots trees and scares the devil. To what extent does Amir, by mythologizing his father, mythologize masculinity? Does this make masculinity unattainable for Amir?

"Then, Baba and I drove off in his black Ford Mustang - a car that drew envious looks everywhere because it was the same car Steve McQueen had driven in Bullitt, a film that played in one theater for six months."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: men and masculinity Analysis: This black Ford Mustang goes part and parcel with Baba's conception of manhood. (We can't help but notice the touch of irony later when Baba gives Amir an American muscle car - a Gran Torino - as a graduation present. The muscle car, once the hottest thing on the road, is actually eleven years old by the time Baba gives it to Amir.) How does Hosseini mythologize Baba and other Afghan men and simultaneously mock them? How does Amir, in his own life, diverge from his father's ideas of masculinity? In what ways does he subscribe to them?

""Remember this," Baba said, pointing at me, "The man is a Pashtun to the root. He has nang and namoos." Nang. Namoos. Honor and pride. The tenets of Pashtun men. Especially when it came to the chastity of a wife. Or a daughter."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: men and masculinity Analysis: Well, Baba gives you a pretty explicit definition of masculinity here: honor and pride. But we also want to note - though honor and pride are generally good things - how nang and namoos affect Afghan women. Meaning, how do Baba's (and General Taheri's) ideas about their own identity affect their wives and daughters and daughter in-laws? Well, the idea here is that women need to be pure for men. A man's honor is tied up in the purity of his wife and daughter. Granted, feminists would have a field day with this one, but we also want to point out the irony (again!) of Baba's statement. Didn't he steal Ali's honor by sleeping with Sanaubar? Did that act destroy Baba's honor, too, and thus his masculinity? Are there any truly honorable men in this novel? Or are the honorable men only in the movies Amir and Baba used to watch?

"With me as the glaring exception, my father molded the world around him to his liking. The problem, of course, was that Baba saw the world in black and white. And he got to decide what was black and what was white. You can't love a person who lives that way without fearing him too. Maybe even hating him a little."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: principles Analysis: A later description reads: "[...] Baba had been such an unusual Afghan father, a liberal who had lived by his own rules, a maverick who had disregarded or embraced societal customs as he had seen fit" (13.97). Is Amir even describing the same person - can someone both see the world in black and white and be a liberal maverick? At first, Baba might seem just like Amir's teacher, Mullah Fatiullah Khan, whom Baba criticizes for being self-righteous and stodgy. Don't those adjectives describe someone with a black and white approach? The difference, however, is that Baba chooses his principles. ("[A] maverick who had disregarded or embraced societal customs as he had seen fit.") Which makes the character of Baba both a freethinker and an old-fashioned moralist. It's enough to make Amir's head spin.

""Good," Baba said, but his eyes wondered. "Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?" "No, Baba jan," I said, desperately wishing I did. I didn't want to disappoint him again. [...] "When you kill a man, you steal a life," Baba said. "You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?" [...] "There is no act more wretched than stealing, Amir," Baba said. "A man who takes what's not his to take, be it a life or a loaf of naan...I spit on such a man. And if I ever cross paths with him, God help him. Do you understand?""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: principles Analysis: As Amir tells us about his father, a portrait of an immensely likable, dominant, and moral man emerges. To Amir, Baba is both larger-than-life and principled. The combination of these two qualities magnifies Amir's shame when he abandons Hassan in the alleyway. How could you ever tell a man who supposedly wrestled a bear that you broke one of his principles? That you allowed Assef to steal Hassan's innocence and childhood? Of course, all this is complicated by the fact that Baba - before Amir was born - stole Ali's honor. With that in mind, Baba's bit of advice to Amir contains a good deal of self-loathing.

"The same day he was hired, Baba and I went to our eligibility officer in San Jose, Mrs. Dobbins. She was an overweight black woman with twinkling eyes and a dimpled smile. She'd told me once that she sang in church, and I believed her - she had a voice that made me think of warm milk and honey. Baba dropped the stack of food stamps on her desk. "Thank you but I don't want," Baba said. "I work always. In Afghanistan I work, in America I work. Thank you very much, Mrs. Dobbins, but I don't like it free money." Mrs. Dobbins blinked. Picked up the food stamps, looked from me to Baba like we were pulling a prank, or "slipping her a trick" as Hassan used to say. "Fifteen years I been doin' this job and nobody's ever done this," she said. And that was how Baba ended those humiliating food stamp moments at the cash register and alleviated one of his greatest fears: that an Afghan would see him buying food with charity money. Baba walked out of the welfare office like a man cured of a tumor."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: principles Analysis: Even in America, where Amir finally sees a more human side of Baba since they struggle to make ends meet, Baba never wavers in his principles. One of which, it seems, is to not be on welfare. This probably comes from Baba's strong sense of independence and self-sufficiency. This episode with the welfare eligibility officer makes Rahim Khan's revelation of Baba's affair with Sanaubar all the more surprising. Baba seems ready to sacrifice his comfort (here) and even his life (with the Russian soldier above) for the principle of honor (nang). So, how could Baba betray Ali? And how could Baba literally live with his betrayal (since he keeps Hassan around)?

"I heard the leather of Baba's seat creaking as he shifted on it. I closed my eyes, pressed my ear even harder against the door, wanting to hear, not wanting to hear. [Baba:] "Sometimes I look out this window and I see him playing on the street with the neighborhood boys. I see how they push him around, take his toys from him, give him a shove here, a whack there. And, you know, he never fights back. Never. He just...drops his head and..." "So he's not violent," Rahim Khan said. "That's not what I mean, Rahim, and you know it," Baba shot back. "There is something missing in that boy." [Rahim Khan:] "Yes, a mean streak." [Baba:] "Self-defense has nothing to do with meanness. You know what always happens when the neighborhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fends them off. I've seen it with my own eyes. And when they come home, I say to him, 'How did Hassan get that scrape on his face?' And he says, 'He fell down.' I'm telling you, Rahim, there is something missing in that boy." "You just need to let him find his way," Rahim Khan said. "And where is he headed?" Baba said. "A boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to anything.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: principles Analysis: Hosseini, you and your irony. Baba complains to Rahim Khan about Amir. According to Baba, Amir never stands up for himself; he always lets Hassan defend him. And someone who can't stand up for himself can't stand up for a friend, or his principles, or anything. Amir overhears Baba's little speech and it hurts him deeply. But the irony comes into focus later when Amir watches Assef rape Hassan and doesn't intervene. So Amir secretly listens to his father criticize the betrayal he will later secretly commit. Irony and foreshadowing at the same time. It's like a party or something.

"[Soraya:] "I heard you write." How did she know? I wondered if her father had told her, maybe she had asked him. I immediately dismissed both scenarios as absurd. Fathers and sons could talk freely about women. But no Afghan girl - no decent and mohtaram Afghan girl, at least - queried her father about a young man. And no father, especially a Pashtun with nang and namoos, would discuss a mojarad with his daughter, not unless the fellow in question was a khastegar, a suitor, who had done the honorable thing and sent his father to knock on the door."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: principles Analysis: OK, so you probably need some translations here. Mohtaram means "respected." A mojarad is a single man. Nang and namoos mean "honor" and "pride," respectively. And, though you can probably figure this one out, a khastegar is a suitor. Now we can get down to business. The Kite Runner is obsessed with the practice of one's principles. We think you can divide the book's principles into two categories: ethical principles and traditional principles. "You shouldn't betray your best friend (and half-brother)" is an ethical principle. "Afghan girls shouldn't talk with their fathers about datable single men" would be a traditional principle. We can all agree with the ethical principles in the book, but the traditional principles espoused by characters like Baba and the General sometimes seem slightly sexist or racist. Part of Amir's difficulty in the book is that he has to navigate between ethical principles and traditional principles. These two come into conflict more than you might think. Consider, for example, the complexities of ethnicity in the book. An ethical principle might be to love your half-brother. A traditional principle might be - according to Assef and the General and lots of Pashtuns - to treat Hazaras as inferiors. It's got to be quite confusing for Amir at times.

""You know," Rahim Khan said, "one time, when you weren't around, your father and I were talking. And you know how he always worried about you in those days. I remember he said to me, 'Rahim, a boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to anything.' I wonder, is that what you've become?""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: principles Analysis: Rahim Khan has just asked Amir to rescue Sohrab from Kabul. Amir is initially resistant, so Rahim Khan tries three times to convince Amir to undertake the task. (The task is obviously a redemptive quest because there's no reason Amir has to rescue Sohrab. Rahim Khan tells Amir he has enough money to get Sohrab, so it seems like anyone could have performed this task.) Anyway, Rahim Khan gives Amir three reasons why he should rescue Sohrab. One, because your father thought you couldn't stand up for anything and here's your chance to prove him wrong. Second, it's my dying wish that you rescue Sohrab. And third, Hassan was actually your half-brother, so you owe it to him. We think all these reasons add up and Amir agrees to rescue Sohrab. Of course, the third reason seals the deal, but they're all important and end up motivating Amir.

"[Soraya:] "Their sons go out to nightclubs looking for meat and get their girlfriends pregnant, they have kids out of wedlock and no one says a ******* thing. Oh, they're just men having fun! I make one mistake and suddenly everyone is talking nang and namoos, and I have to have my face rubbed in it for the rest of my life.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: principles Analysis: Soraya slams Afghan culture for its double-standard with men and women. Men can go out to the club and have sex; women can't even have sex with a long-term boyfriend. We would also like to point out that Baba has a double-standard. He criticizes Amir for not standing up to the neighborhood boys. Well, how did Hassan get into this world? Baba had an affair with Ali's wife. That doesn't really count as standing up for your friend.

"How could he have lied to me all those years? To Hassan? He had sat me on his lap when I was little, looked me straight in the eyes, and said, There is only one sin. And that is theft... When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. Hadn't he said those words to me? And now, fifteen years after I'd buried him, I was learning that Baba had been a thief. And a thief of the worst kind, because the things he'd stolen had been sacred: from me the right to know I had a brother, from Hassan his identity, and from Ali his honor. His nang. His namoos."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: principles Analysis: This is a central moment in the novel because it revises our picture of Baba, and thus our picture of Amir. Amir's guilt, all these years, has partly resulted from Baba's very strict adherence to a personal code. Baba's set of principles include honor (nang), pride (namoos), and loyalty. Now Amir finds out the following: not only did Baba "steal" Ali's honor and pride, but he stole a sense of self from Hassan, and a brother from Amir. What are you supposed to do when you find out the single most important figure of authority and morality in your life strayed from his principles? That's right, go on a personal quest of redemption to rescue your half-nephew from a sadistic, Mein Kampf-toting member of the Taliban.

"That was when Baba stood up. It was my turn to clamp a hand on his thigh, but Baba pried it loose, snatched his leg away. When he stood, he eclipsed the moonlight. "I want you to ask this man something," Baba said. He said it to Karim, but looked directly at the Russian officer. "Ask him where his shame is." They spoke. "He says this is war. There is no shame in war." "Tell him he's wrong. War doesn't negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: principles Analysis: Well, when a man eclipses the moonlight, you should listen. Notice how Amir doesn't listen, though. An Afghan woman is about to be raped and Amir tries to stop Baba from standing up to the Russian officer. Remind you of something Amir does (or doesn't do) in an earlier chapter? Baba's actions, honorable as they are, must compound Amir's guilt. His father does exactly what Amir failed to do. Amir even tries to stop his father - as if some unconscious part of him wants his father, and the others in the truck, to share his guilt instead of magnifying it.

""I didn't tell you," Soraya said, dabbing at her eyes, "but my father showed up with a gun that night. He told...him...that he had two bullets in the chamber, one for him and one for himself if I didn't come home. I was screaming, calling my father all kinds of names, saying he couldn't keep me locked up forever, that I wished he were dead." Fresh tears squeezed out between her lids. "I actually said that to him, that I wished he were dead.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: principles Analysis: Wow. General Taheri shows up one night to his daughter's apartment because she's been living with an Afghan man. We guess it's obvious from this passage how important honor is to General Taheri. He's willing to kill both himself and Soraya's boyfriend to save not only her honor but his own.

"Sohrab stopped chewing. Put the sandwich down. "Father never said he had a brother." [Amir:] "That's because he didn't know." [Sohrab:] "Why didn't he know?" "No one told him," I said. "No one told me either. I just found out recently." Sohrab blinked. Like he was looking at me, really looking at me, for the very first time. "But why did people hide it from Father and you?" [Amir:] "You know, I asked myself that same question the other day. And there's an answer, but not a good one. Let's just say they didn't tell us because your father and I...we weren't supposed to be brothers." [Sohrab:] "Because he was a Hazara?" I willed my eyes to stay on him. "Yes.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: race Analysis: Amir has recently rescued Sohrab from Assef and the Taliban. And Amir, eating lunch with Sohrab, suddenly blurts out that he and Hassan were half-brothers. As Amir says, "[...] [H]e had a right to know; I didn't want to hide anything anymore" (24.105). Amir does the right thing here - most readers probably let out a sigh of relief when Amir tells Sohrab the truth about Hassan. But we also find it a little sad that this twelve-year-old boy already knows enough about his homeland to guess Amir and Hassan shouldn't have been brothers because of ethnicity. It's a sort of barometer of ethnic relations in Afghanistan: even a young boy knows it's somehow improper for a Hazara and Pashtun to have the same father.

"But despite sharing ethnic heritage and family blood, Sanaubar joined the neighborhood kids in taunting Ali. I have heard that she made no secret of her disdain for his appearance. "This is a husband?" she would sneer. "I have seen old donkeys better suited to be a husband.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: race Analysis: Amir praises Sanaubar's beauty. Ali, on the other hand, isn't known for his looks. Even though Sanaubar strikes us as cruel here, we can make sense of her disdain for her husband's appearance. Powerful people sometimes mock powerless people. Athletic people sometimes dislike clumsy people. It's mean, but it's also human. (For example, "If I have this trait, why don't other people have it?") However, we at Shmoop think something else is going on: self-loathing. Two paragraphs before this one, Amir recalls some of the terrible ethnic slurs for Hazaras. One of them is "load-carrying donkey." Sanaubar, like Ali, is a Hazara. And so there's some self-hatred when she says, "I have seen old donkeys better suited to be a husband." In a way, she's adopting the slur that the Pashtuns use against her own people. It could be that she has internalized hatred.

"They called him "flat-nosed" because of Ali and Hassan's characteristic Hazara Mongoloid features. For years, that was all I knew about the Hazaras, that they were Mogul descendants, and that they looked a little like Chinese people. School text books barely mentioned them and referred to their ancestry only in passing. Then one day, I was in Baba's study, looking through his stuff, when I found one of my mother's old history books. It was written by an Iranian named Khorami. I blew the dust off it, sneaked it into bed with me that night, and was stunned to find an entire chapter on Hazara history. An entire chapter dedicated to Hassan's people! In it, I read that my people, the Pashtuns, had persecuted and oppressed the Hazaras. It said the Hazaras had tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns had "quelled them with unspeakable violence." The book said that my people had killed the Hazaras, driven them from their lands, burned their homes, and sold their women. The book said part of the reason Pashtuns had oppressed the Hazaras was that Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims, while Hazaras were Shi'a. The book said a lot of things I didn't know, things my teachers hadn't mentioned. Things Baba hadn't mentioned either. It also said some things I did know, like that people called Hazaras mice-eating, flat-nosed, load-carrying donkeys. I had heard some of the kids in the neighborhood yell those names to Hassan."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: race Analysis: Ethnicity is complicated in The Kite Runner. Amir and Hassan have different ethnic groups: Amir is Pashtun and Hassan is Hazara. To make matters confusing, though, Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims and Hazaras are Shi'a Muslims. (So ethnicity and religion intertwine.) Here, Amir talks about how the Hazara people have been pretty much erased from official Afghani schoolbooks. Since the Pashtuns are in control, the Hazaras don't get much space in the official history of the country. There's also an attempt, it seems, to cover up the genocide committed by the Pashtuns against the Hazaras in the nineteenth century. Do you think Amir's betrayal of Hassan is just another instance of Pashtuns mistreating Hazaras - or does Amir, by telling Hassan's story, attempt to change things?

"But as we spoke, I caught his eyes drifting again and again to Sohrab sleeping on the couch. As if we were skirting around the edge of what he really wanted to know. The skirting finally came to an end over dinner when the general put down his fork and said, "So, Amir jan, you're going to tell us why you have brought back this boy with you?" "Iqbal jan! What sort of question is that?" Khala Jamila said. "While you're busy knitting sweaters, my dear, I have to deal with the community's perception of our family. People will ask. They will want to know why there is a Hazara boy living with our daughter. What do I tell them?" Soraya dropped her spoon. Turned on her father. "You can tell them - " [...] "It's all right." I turned to the general. "You see, General Sahib, my father slept with his servant's wife. She bore him a son named Hassan. Hassan is dead now. That boy sleeping on the couch is Hassan's son. He's my nephew. That's what you tell people when they ask." They were all staring at me. "And one more thing, General Sahib," I said. "You will never again refer to him as 'Hazara boy' in my presence. He has a name and it's Sohrab.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: race Analysis: On the one hand, The Kite Runner shows us extreme ethnic hatred through the character of Assef. But what about more common prejudice - the kind that doesn't necessarily result in violence but that still poisons a society? Even though General Sahib is a likable character, we see a nastier side of him here. (In Chapter 13, we already saw how violently the General defended his family's honor when Soraya left home to live with another man.) With the General, Hosseini depicts ethnic intolerance in the very fabric of a society. An otherwise good person, General Sahib asks, "What will respectable people say about my daughter's adopted son?" By having an unexceptional character question Soraya's living arrangements, Hosseini casts doubt on Afghan society. Here's a more or less normal guy, Hosseini says, and he is prejudiced. It seems that in many ways the problem is not personal but societal.

"I was eighteen. Her name was Homaira. She was a Hazara, the daughter of our neighbor's servants. [...] He took a long gulp of his scotch. Coughed. "You should have seen the look on my father's face when I told him. My mother actually fainted. My sisters splashed her face with water. They fanned her and looked at me as if I had slit her throat. My brother Jalal actually went to fetch his hunting rifle before my father stopped him." Rahim Khan barked a bitter laughter. "It was Homaira and me against the world. And I'll tell you this, Amir jan: In the end, the world always wins. That's just the way of things.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: race Analysis: Rahim Khan is telling Amir about an early romance of his with a Hazara woman named Homaira. (Don't forget that Rahim Khan's romance with Homaira parallels Baba's romance with Sanaubar.) The reactions from Rahim Khan's family might strike you as outlandish. Perhaps, though, they tell us a little about the distance between Hazaras and Pashtuns in the Afghanistan of Rahim Khan's early adulthood. Marriage binds two families together and you can see - pretty clearly - the fear expressed by Rahim Khan's mother (she faints) and his brother (he goes to get his gun). But we might want to disagree with Rahim Khan's last statement. Does "the world" always win? In the novel, do social prejudices win out over Amir's love for Hassan? Is Amir's rescue of Sohrab successful?

"He [Assef] leaned toward me, like a man about to share a great secret. "You don't know the meaning of the word 'liberating' until you've done that, stood in a roomful of targets, let the bullets fly, free of guilt and remorse, knowing you are virtuous, good, and decent. Knowing you're doing God's work. It's breathtaking." He kissed the prayer beads, tilted his head. [...]. I had read about the Hazara massacre in Mazar-i-Sharif in the papers. It had happened just after the Taliban took over Mazar, one of the last cities to fall. I remembered Soraya handing me the article over breakfast, her face bloodless. [Assef:] "[...]. We left the bodies in the streets, and if their families tried to sneak out to drag them back into their homes, we'd shoot them too. We left them in the streets for days. We left them for the dogs. Dog meat for dogs.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: race Analysis: Since ethnicity and religion intertwine inextricably in the Afghanistan of The Kite Runner, Assef justifies ethnic cleansing through religion. This is problematic. Assef has ultimate justification - God's will - for what amounts to murder. (We can imagine the daily and more common persecutions this justification must bring about as well.) Although Hosseini paints Assef as an extreme character, in the end Hosseini sheds some light on the bizarre and false justifications of ethnic prejudices in Afghanistan.

"His [Assef's] blue eyes flicked to Hassan. "Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood." He made a sweeping, grandiose gesture with his hands. "Afghanistan for Pashtuns, I say. That's my vision.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: race Analysis: This guy Assef is a jerk. And just plain evil. His misguided sentiment, though, informs the Taliban massacre Assef participates in at Mazar-i-Sharif. It also informed the Holocaust. (Hosseini consciously references the German concentration camps: Assef's mother is German and Assef actually admires Hitler.) Purity works for some things, like water and grain alcohol, but not the ethnic makeup of a country.

"Assef's brow twitched. "Like pride in your people, your customs, your language. Afghanistan is like a beautiful mansion littered with garbage, and someone has to take out the garbage." [Amir:] "That's what you were doing in Mazar, going door-to-door? Taking out the garbage?" [Assef:] "Precisely." "In the west, they have an expression for that," I said. "They call it ethnic cleansing.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: race Analysis: This is what we in the literature business like to call a "BOOYA!" moment. Assef carelessly uses a metaphor - taking out the garbage - which suggests "cleaning" or "cleansing." Amir takes advantage of the implicit metaphor and tells it like it is: Assef committed the crime of genocide. Notice, too, how Amir participates in the clichés of action films. We can imagine Schwarzenegger letting fly a zinger like this one. Coincidence? Maybe not. The number of references to Hollywood films actually outnumbers the references to Afghani politicians.

"The curious thing was, I never thought of Hassan and me as friends either. Not in the usual sense, anyhow. Never mind that we taught each other to ride a bicycle with no hands, or to build a fully functional homemade camera out of a cardboard box. Never mind that we spent entire winters flying kites, running kites. Never mind that to me, the face of Afghanistan is that of a boy with a thin-boned frame, a shaved head, and low-set ears, a boy with a Chinese doll face perpetually lit by a harelipped smile. Never mind any of those things. Because history isn't easy to overcome. Neither is religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi'a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: race Analysis: This passage occurs in the midst of two relevant insights: 1) Amir never hears Baba refer to Ali as his friend in the stories he tells; and 2) no amount of history, ethnicity, society, or religion can change the fact that Amir and Hassan spent all their formative childhood moments together. So what should we make of Amir's contradictory statements here - doesn't he say history both does and does not trump his love for Hassan? Said another way: can history and ethnicity break the bonds of family? We're not sure. This might be the paradox at the heart of the novel.

"I remembered something Baba had said about Pashtuns once. We may be hardheaded and I know we're far too proud, but, in the hour of need, believe me that there's no one you'd rather have at your side than a Pashtun."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: race Analysis: This, friends, is a complicated statement. Sometimes generalizations about a culture don't harm anyone: "We Irish like to have fun." Sometimes they harm everyone and are patently false: "The Irish are a bunch of drunks." So, is Baba's statement here harmless or harmful? Well, does he mean you wouldn't want a Hazara at your side when the going got tough? Maybe some context would help: Amir is recalling Baba's statement during General Taheri's visit to Baba in the hospital. General Taheri, a Pashtun, is a devoted, loyal friend. So, perhaps it's harmless to some degree. If you dig deeper, though, there's more at stake. Remember that Amir, a Pashtun, abandoned Hassan, a Hazara, in the alley. Does Baba's statement mean you want a Pashtun at your side only if you're a Pashtun? And a Hazara at your side only if you're a Hazara? Does Baba's comment further isolate these ethnicities?

"It had been sunny for days, but Sunday morning, as I swung my legs out of bed, I heard raindrops pelting the window. [...]. I prayed morning namaz while Soraya slept - I didn't have to consult the prayer pamphlet I had obtained from the mosque anymore; the verses came naturally now, effortlessly."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: religion Analysis: Amir has finally learned the namaz (formal prayer of Islam) by heart. Of course, this is an important development in Amir's faith. And the book documents Amir's eventual embrace of Islam. How does Amir's embrace of his faith coincide with other reconciliations in the novel? Is Amir able to practice Islam because he comes to terms with his betrayal of Hassan?

The following week, after class, I showed the book to my teacher and pointed to the chapter on the Hazaras. He skimmed through a couple of pages, snickered, handed the book back. "That's the one thing Shi'a people do well," he said, picking up his papers, "passing themselves as martyrs." He wrinkled his nose when he said the word Shi'a, like it was some kind of disease.

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: religion Analysis: Amir receives wildly different educations on ethnicity and religion right at the start of the book. (Background Note: Hazara people are typically Shi'a Muslims and the Pashtun people are typically Sunni Muslim.) Amir's mother, whom we later discover was a kind and enlightened university professor, owned a book which included Shi'a Muslims in the official history of Afghanistan. That seems very important since Amir strikes Hassan, a Shi'a, from his personal history. Then there's Baba who loves and respects Ali (also a Shi'a Muslim), but who doesn't refer to Ali as his friend. And at the other extreme: Amir's teacher, the soldiers, and Sunni society in general which consistently discriminates against Shi'a Muslims. Amir has to navigate these different degrees of racial tolerance. Where does Amir end up in this spectrum? How does Amir treat Hassan? Is Amir guilty of religious discrimination against Hassan?

"When I was in fifth grade, we had a mullah who taught us about Islam. His name was Mullah Fatiullah Khan, a short, stubby man with a face full of acne scars and a gruff voice. He lectured us about the virtues of zakat and the duty of hadj; he taught us the intricacies of performing the five daily namaz prayers, and made us memorize verses from the Koran - and though he never translated the words for us, he did stress, sometimes with the help of a stripped willow branch, that we had to pronounce the Arabic words correctly so God would hear us better. He told us one day that Islam considered drinking a terrible sin; those who drank would answer for their sin on the day of Qiyamat, Judgment Day. [...] "I see you've confused what you're learning in school with actual education," he [Baba] said in his thick voice. [Amir:] "But if what he said is true then does it make you a sinner, Baba?" "Hmm." Baba crushed an ice cube between his teeth. "Do you want to know what your father thinks about sin?" [Amir:] "Yes." "Then I'll tell you," Baba said, "but first understand this and understand it now, Amir: You'll never learn anything of value from those bearded idiots." [Amir:] "You mean Mullah Fatiullah Khan?" [...] "They do nothing but thumb their prayer beads and recite a book written in a tongue they don't even understand." He [Baba] took a sip. "God help us all if Afghanistan ever falls into their hands.""

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: religion Analysis: Hosseini depicts a liberal, Westernized Afghanistan through the character of Baba. Most of us probably think of Afghanistan as a traditional Islamic country - and some of that's true. But that thinking ignores the people like Baba, of an earlier era, who lived in larger cities like Kabul. Baba also has Westernized tastes: action movies, American cars, scotch. We can place Baba against the more extreme Taliban-ruled era - he's a throwback to the urban, secular Afghanistan of Amir's childhood.

"I throw my makeshift jai-namaz, my prayer rug, on the floor and I get on my knees, lower my forehead to the ground, my tears soaking through the sheet. I bow to the west. Then I remember I haven't prayed for over fifteen years. I have long forgotten the words. But it doesn't matter [...]. [...]. I see now that Baba was wrong, there is a God, there always had been. I see Him here, in the eyes of the people in this corridor of desperation. This is the real house of God, this is where those who have lost God will find Him, not the white masjid with its bright diamond lights and towering minarets. There is a God, there has to be, and now I will pray, I will pray that He forgive that I have neglected Him all of these years, forgive that I have betrayed, lied, and sinned with impunity only to turn to Him now in my hour of need [...]."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: religion Analysis: In this passage, Amir prays in the hospital. Sohrab has just tried to commit suicide. Amir feels guilt not only for Sohrab's despair (he went back on his promise not to send Sohrab to an orphanage) but for his betrayal of Hassan. And perhaps his guilt forces Amir to reject his father's lack of faith. In a way, Amir needs to believe in God. Amir needs an agent to provide forgiveness.

"I took the form and turned it in. That night, I waited until Baba fell asleep, and then folded a blanket. I used it as a prayer rug. Bowing my head to the ground, I recited half-forgotten verses from the Koran - verses the mullah had made us commit to memory in Kabul - and asked for kindness from a God I wasn't sure existed. I envied the mullah now, envied his faith and certainty."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: religion Analysis: It's easy to forget about Amir's own religious convictions. Though he's not particularly religious as a boy, and seems under the sway of his father's secularism, Amir does develop a Muslim faith in the book. This plot plays a more or less minor role, but it's present nonetheless. In this passage, Amir turns to Islam for the first time for comfort and reassurance after a suspicious spot shows up on Baba's CAT scan. Later, he will pray devotedly to Allah when Sohrab tries to commit suicide. By the end of the book, we learn that Amir knows his daily prayers by heart. So what kind of Islam does Amir practice? Is it the same as Assef's or is it something different altogether?

"Earlier, at the gravesite in the small Muslim section of the cemetery, I had watched them lower Baba into the hole. The mullah and another man got into an argument over which was the correct ayat of the Koran to recite at the gravesite. It might have turned ugly had General Taheri not intervened. The mullah chose an ayat and recited it, casting the other fellow nasty glances. I watched them toss the first shovelful of dirt into the grave. Then I left. Walked to the other side of the cemetery. Sat in the shade of a red maple."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: religion Analysis: On an emotional level, this event must pain Amir quite a bit. Here he is trying to mourn his father - to say goodbye to his father - and the mullah and some dude are arguing about the prayer. We at Shmoop want to say to the mullah and this other guy: "Forget about the prayers - you two are the improper ones!" In the larger context of religion in the novel, though, Hosseini comments on the occasional divisiveness of religion. In the cemetery scene, both the mullah and the man miss their more important religious obligation, which is not the correct prayer, but compassion for Amir and respect for his deceased father.

"That night, we were lying on our beds, watching a talk show on TV. Two clerics with pepper gray long beards and white turbans were taking calls from the faithful all over the world. One caller from Finland, a guy named Ayub, asked if his teenaged son could go to hell for wearing his baggy pants so low the seam of his underwear showed. [...] On the TV screen, the two mullahs were consulting each other. [...] The mullahs decided that Ayub's son would go to hell after all for wearing his pants the way he did. They claimed it was in the Hadith."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: religion Analysis: On the surface, it seems like Hosseini is again commenting on how religion can get focused on the wrong things (see 13.60 above). During this television program, though, Amir is sitting next to Sohrab in their hotel room. Amir recently told Sohrab that he and Hassan were half-brothers. This confession must have brought up all sorts of guilt: his betrayal of Hassan and the fact he never really told his father what happened to Hassan and how he abandoned Hassan. Sohrab's rescue, in a way, is Amir's attempt to be good again, his penance for leaving Hassan in the alley and sending Ali and Hassan away. Does Sohrab's rescue redeem Amir? Does Amir believe in the same hell as the cleric on the TV program?

"[Raymond Andrews:] "Of course," he said. Cleared his throat. "Are you Muslim?" [Amir:] "Yes." [Raymond Andrews:] "Practicing?" "Yes." In truth, I didn't remember the last time I had laid my forehead to the ground in prayer. Then I did remember: the day Dr. Amani gave Baba his prognosis. I had kneeled on the prayer rug, remembering only fragments of verses I had learned in school."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: religion Analysis: Raymond Andrews questions Amir about his faith in the context of adoption: it's easier for Amir to adopt Sohrab if he's a practicing Muslim. But Andrews' question also illuminates Amir's faith and spiritual practice. Amir answers "Yes" to Andrews' question even though he can't remember the last time he prayed. And even then the prayers came to him in fragments. If we can wade past the surface discussion of adoption here, and Amir's practical motivations (adopting Sohrab), what does his answer say about his faith? Perhaps that he has carried it with him almost unconsciously since childhood. His affirmation springs forth from an unconscious the way his faith aids him in times of need: his father's diagnosis, Sohrab's suicide attempt, and Sohrab's later silence.

"They dragged me out and he started kicking me. He had knee-high boots with steel toes that he wore every night for his little kicking game, and he used them on me. I was screaming and screaming and he kept kicking me and then, suddenly, he kicked me on the left kidney and the stone passed. Just like that! Oh, the relief!" Assef laughed. "And I yelled 'Allah-u akbar' and he kicked me even harder and I started laughing. He got mad and hit me harder, and the harder he kicked me, the harder I laughed. They threw me back in the cell laughing. I kept laughing and laughing because suddenly I knew that had been a message from God: He was on my side. He wanted me to live for a reason."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: religion Analysis: This guy's religion is weird. In the passage, Assef recounts how communist soldiers arrested him and beat him. But during his beating, Assef comes to a bizarre realization: God wants him to purge Afghanistan of Hazaras (see 22.83 to 22.89). Because the soldier actually helps Assef pass a kidney stone, Assef laughs during what should be a painful ordeal. Certainly Assef must have seemed insane to the torturer. As he beats Assef, Assef also shouts out a phrase which means "God is great." How do pain and religious insight mix in unsavory ways here? Does this episode explain Assef's cruelty (or was he cruel long before)?

"When the prayer was done, the cleric cleared his throat. "Brothers and sisters!" he called, speaking in Farsi, his voice booming through the stadium. "We are here today to carry out Shari'a. We are here today to carry out justice. We are here today because the will of Allah and the word of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, are alive and well here in Afghanistan, our beloved homeland. We listen to what God says and we obey because we are nothing but humble, powerless creatures before God's greatness. And what does God say? I ask you! WHAT DOES GOD SAY? God says that every sinner must be punished in a manner befitting his sin. Those are not my words, nor the words of my brothers. Those are the words of GOD!" He pointed with his free hand to the sky. My head was pounding and the sun felt much too hot. "Every sinner must be punished in a manner befitting his sin!" the cleric repeated into the mike, lowering his voice, enunciating each word slowly, dramatically. "And what manner of punishment, brothers and sisters, befits the adulterer? How shall we punish those who dishonor the sanctity of marriage? How shall we deal with those who spit in the face of God? How shall we answer those who throw stones at the windows of God's house? WE SHALL THROW THE STONES BACK!" He shut off the microphone. A low-pitched murmur spread through the crowd. Next to me, Farid was shaking his head. "And they call themselves Muslims," he whispered."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: religion Analysis: We probably don't need to remind you the cleric here is actually none other than Assef. Farid comments that Assef isn't a real Muslim - and it is difficult to square the theatricality of the punishment here with Islam. This event seems to have more in common with totalitarian regimes than with Islam in particular. Also, it's worth thinking ahead to Assef's own punishment: partial blindness by Sohrab's hand. In what ways is this an ironic punishment for Assef? Is it a punishment "befitting his sin"? However, we at Shmoop think you shouldn't consider justice in The Kite Runner too long - because it seems like there's such a short supply of it.

"We stayed huddled that way until the early hours of the morning. The shootings and explosions had lasted less than an hour, but they had frightened us badly, because none of us had ever heard gunshots in the streets. They were foreign sounds to us then. The generation of Afghan children whose ears would know nothing but the sounds of bombs and gunfire was not yet born. Huddled together in the dining room and waiting for the sun to rise, none of us had any notion that a way of life had ended. Our way of life. If not quite yet, then at least it was the beginning of the end. The end, the official end, would come first in April 1978 with the communist coup d'état, and then in December 1979, when Russian tanks would roll into the very same streets where Hassan and I played, bringing the death of the Afghanistan I knew and marking the start of a still ongoing era of bloodletting."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: warfare Analysis: If you were to describe Afghanistan's political situation, you might describe it as "war-torn" or "ravaged." But those descriptions apply, really, only from 1978 on - before then, Afghanistan was a relatively peaceful country. In this passage, Amir documents the sea change the country undergoes in the late '70s. A way of life ends - and, importantly, the children born after this period won't remember peace because they never experienced it. Notice, too, that Hosseini places Afghanistan's loss of innocence right next to Amir's and Hassan's - the infamous rape scene happens only two chapters later.

"Jadeh Maywand had turned into a giant sand castle. The buildings that hadn't entirely collapsed barely stood, with caved in roofs and walls pierced with rockets shells. Entire blocks had been obliterated to rubble. I saw a bullet-pocked sign half buried at an angle in a heap of debris. It read DRINK COCA CO--. I saw children playing in the ruins of a windowless building amid jagged stumps of brick and stone. Bicycle riders and mule-drawn carts swerved around kids, stray dogs, and piles of debris. A haze of dust hovered over the city and, across the river, a single plume of smoke rose to the sky."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: warfare Analysis: Jadeh Maywand is a big avenue in Kabul where kite shops used to sell their wares. Now, after years of fighting, it's been turned into rubble. Really, into dust ("a giant sand castle"). But something else here caught our attention. Yep, the bullet-pocked sign. Earlier in the book, Amir mentions all kinds of American influences in Kabul: movies, cars, bikes, jeans, and cowboy hats. Now, when he returns, he finds - SYMBOL ALERT! - a half-legible Coca Cola sign. American influence is in the process of disappearing.

"You couldn't trust anyone in Kabul any more - for a fee or under threat, people told on each other, neighbor on neighbor, child on parent, brother on brother, servant on master, friend on friend. [...]. The rafiqs, the comrades, were everywhere and they'd split Kabul into two groups: those who eavesdropped and those who didn't. The tricky part was that no one knew who belonged to which. A casual remark to the tailor while getting fitted for a suit might land you in the dungeons of Poleh-charkhi. Complain about the curfew to the butcher and next thing you knew, you were behind bars staring at the muzzle end of a Kalashnikov. Even at the dinner table, in the privacy of their home, people had to speak in a calculated manner - the rafiqs were in the classrooms too; they'd taught children to spy on their parents, what to listen for, whom to tell."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: warfare Analysis: Of course, war changes everything. But it's still surprising, somehow, that the home itself could become a charged and dangerous environment. Isn't the home supposed to be a place where you can relax a little? Where you can count on the loyalty of your family? Apparently, that's not the case in Shorawi-occupied (Soviet-occupied) Afghanistan. Hosseini is describing, here, the dangers of occupied Afghanistan, but he's also referencing other betrayals. Later in the book, we learn Hassan is Amir's half-brother, though no one tells Amir this until he's 38. Later in the book, we learn Baba, Amir's father, knew all along Hassan was Amir's half-brother. Count 'em up. Brother betrays brother. Father betrays son. So is Hosseini only talking about Shorawi-occupied Afghanistan here? Unlikely.

"Rubble and beggars. Everywhere I looked, that was what I saw. I remembered beggars in the old days too - Baba always carried an extra handful of Afghani bills in his pocket just for them; I'd never seen him deny a peddler. Now, though, they squatted at every street corner, dressed in shredded burlap rags, mud-caked hands held out for a coin. And the beggars were mostly children now, thin and grim-faced, some no older than five or six. They sat in the laps of their burqa-clad mothers alongside gutters at busy street corners and chanted "Bakhshesh, bakhshesh!" And something else, something I hadn't noticed right away: Hardly any of them sat with an adult male - the wars had made fathers a rare commodity in Afghanistan."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: warfare Analysis: The picture of war here just gets worse and worse. Amir is with Farid, driving through Kabul, his childhood city, and things get grim really quick. Not only have the beggars increased in number since Amir's childhood, now they're mostly children. Young children, too. Amir also notices that very few of the children are sitting with an adult male, which means all the older brothers and fathers have died. Hosseini, on one level, is giving us a picture of Afghanistan; on another, he's commenting on the situation of his characters. Don't forget that Amir's own father has recently died. And Hassan, Amir's half-brother and Sohrab's father, died during Taliban rule. Rahim Khan, a father-figure to Amir, is dying as Amir drives around Kabul. This book is about the effects of war on Afghani people; but it's also about the very personal losses - a father and a brother and almost a nephew - experienced by Amir.

"I saw a dead body near the restaurant. There had been a hanging. A young man dangled from the end of a rope tied to a beam, his face puffy and blue, the clothes he'd worn on the last day of his life shredded, bloody. Hardly anyone seemed to notice him."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: warfare Analysis: This is a smart move by Hosseini. Now that he's accustomed his readers to the devastation of war in the previous chapter, he casually introduces a shocking image. We think most readers will pause here and say, "Gosh, this is really awful," and then move on because that's what Hosseini does. Hosseini knows his readers, like the Afghani citizens, are getting used to horror.

"We found the new orphanage in the northern part of Karteh-Seh, along the banks of the dried-up Kabul River. It was a flat, barracks-style building with splintered walls and windows boarded with planks of wood. Farid had told me on the way there that Karteh-Seh had been one of the most war-ravaged neighborhoods in Kabul, and, as we stepped out of the truck, the evidence was overwhelming. The cratered streets were flanked by little more than ruins of shelled buildings and abandoned homes. We passed the rusted skeleton of an overturned car, a TV set with no screen half-buried in rubble, a wall with the words ZENDA BAD TALIBAN! (Long live the Taliban!) sprayed in black."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: warfare Analysis: War's influence is everywhere. Even the orphanage has turned into a "barracks-style building." Nobody's living in the homes in Karteh-Seh either. Perhaps most telling, though, is the smashed TV near the wall with "Long live the Taliban!" spray-painted on it. In the book, TVs are markers of prosperity and American influence. Amir promises Hassan he'll buy him a TV when they grow up; Amir also tells Sohrab American TVs have 500 channels. But here's a TV, smashed, and near graffiti promoting a totalitarian regime.

"Soon after the attacks, America bombed Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance moved in, and the Taliban scurried like rats into the caves. Suddenly, people were standing in grocery store lines and talking about the cities of my childhood, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif. When I was very little, Baba took Hassan and me to Kunduz. I don't remember much about the trip, except sitting in the shade of an acacia tree with Baba and Hassan, taking turns sipping fresh watermelon juice from a clay pot and seeing who could spit the seeds farther. Now Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, and people sipping lattes at Starbucks were talking about the battle for Kunduz, the Taliban's last stronghold in the north. That December, Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras gathered in Bonn and, under the watchful eye of the UN, began the process that might someday end over twenty years of unhappiness in their watan. Hamid Karzai's caracul hat and green chapan became famous."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: warfare Analysis: We at Shmoop never thought about the weirdness Afghan-Americans must have felt when their country suddenly burst into the national consciousness. Before September 11, 2001 most Americans probably said things like Afghani-what? Now, Amir hears about his homeland (or, for those of you keeping track of the Dari language in the book, his watan) in Starbucks and in grocery stories. It has got to be weird. Just imagine that your hometown - for whatever reason - suddenly attracts (inter)national media coverage. People like Dan Rather are talking about the park where you used to picnic, strangers weigh in on the strategic advantage of the hill where you used to sled. Well, it wouldn't be exactly like that because Afghanistan is a lot bigger than your hometown. But you get the idea.

"The trek between Kabul and Jalalabad, a bone-jarring ride down a teetering pass snaking through the rocks, had become a relic now, a relic of two wars. Twenty years earlier, I had seen some of the first war with my own eyes. Grim reminders of it were strewn along the road: burned carcasses of old Soviet tanks, overturned military trucks gone to rust, a crushed Russian jeep that had plunged over the mountainside. The second war, I had watched on my TV screen. And now I was seeing it through Farid's eyes."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: warfare Analysis: We have to admit it: this is a cool passage. The trek between Kabul and Jalalabad becomes both an actual, war-torn landscape and a mental landscape. Let us explain. Amir sees "relics" of the first war with the Soviets, which is a war encased in his memory. He also sees remnants of the second war (during the 1990s), which he experienced through TV. Now, listening to Farid, his driver, he experiences the landscape through another person's eyes. Hosseini allows Amir's noggin to experience the landscape in layers: through memory (his past), representation (TV), and imagination (as if he's Farid).

"By then - that would have been 1995 - the Shorawi were defeated and long gone and Kabul belonged to Massoud, Rabbani, and the Mujahedin. The infighting between the factions was fierce and no one knew if they would live to see the end of the day. Our ears became accustomed to the whistle of falling shells, to the rumble of gunfire, our eyes familiar with the sight of men digging bodies out of piles of rubble. Kabul in those days, Amir jan, was as close as you could get to that proverbial hell on earth. Allah was kind to us, though. The Wazir Akbar Khan area was not attacked as much, so we did not have it as bad as some of the other neighborhoods."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: warfare Analysis: We just want to point out how the city, in a time of war (or after), can become a necropolis. (Basically, a city of the dead.) Not only does Hosseini say that Kabul became a "proverbial hell on earth," he also describes men digging up bodies out of the piles of rubble. Hell, whether you're in the Greek or Christian tradition, is a pretty darn good example of a city of the dead. And, if you add, just for kicks, like Hosseini does, the image of men digging up bodies, you've definitely transformed an active, lively city into a graveyard.

"I overheard him telling Baba how he and his brother knew the Russian and Afghan soldiers who worked the checkpoints, how they had set up a "mutually profitable" arrangement. This was no dream. As if on cue, a MiG suddenly screamed past overhead. Karim tossed his cigarette and produced a handgun from his waist. Pointing it to the sky and making shooting gestures, he spat and cursed at the MiG."

Work: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Theme: warfare Analysis: Well, there are plenty of David and Goliath references in this book. Although this passage probably isn't actually a reference to that Biblical story, it's in the same spirit. Here's an Afghani smuggler pretending to fire a handgun at a Russian fighter jet. Could Karim be any more powerless? Could his curses and spittle mean less? Wait a second. Don't forget that the Russians actually give up and leave Afghanistan. David: 1. Goliath: O.

"Not only does Gogol Ganguli have a pet name turned good name, but also a last name turned first name. And so it occurs to him that no one he knows in the world, in Russia or India or America or anywhere, shares his name. Not even the source of his namesake."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: Gogol's name doesn't tie him to any specific culture, which is a big problem for our boy. If you don't belong to a culture, how do you handle the world as a whole? Where's your frame of reference? Whom do you look to for an example?

"But Gogol sounds ludicrous to his ears, lacking dignity or gravity. What dismays him most is the irrelevance of it all."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: The irrelevance of what, Gogol? If your name is so irrelevant, why does it bother you so much? Or does it bother you because you want your name to pack a punch, to say, "Hello world, I'm here!"?

"In the spring he went to Venice alone for a week, the trip he'd planned for the two of them, saturating himself in its ancient, melancholy beauty."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: contrasting regions of India, U.S., and Europe Analysis: After his divorce from Moushumi, Gogol seeks out a foreign city to get lost in, perhaps to remake himself after a devastating breakup.

"He is old enough to know that he himself will be burned, not buried, that his body will occupy no plot of earth, that no stone in this country will bear his name beyond life. In Calcutta, from taxis and once from the roof of his grandparents' house, he has seen the dead bodies of strangers carried on people's shoulders through streets, decked with flowers, wrapped in sheets."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: contrasting regions of India, U.S., and Europe Analysis: Each culture has its own relationship to the dead, and the Bengali tradition of cremation just might freak out Gogol. It means that he will literally disappear from the face of the earth. There will be no tombstone to prove he ever existed.

"He grows to appreciate being utterly disconnected from the world [...] The Ratliffs own the moon that floats over the lake, and the sun and the clouds."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: contrasting regions of India, U.S., and Europe Analysis: Even the Ratliffs' vacations are different from the Gangulis'. While the Gangulis head to Calcutta, a busy, crowded city filled with relatives, the Ratliffs go off to their relatively isolated cabin in New Hampshire, where they literally own the wilderness. Talk about rich.

"No other building he's seen has affected him so powerfully. Their second day at the Taj he attempts to sketch the dome and a portion of the façade, but the building's grace eludes him and he throws the sketch away."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: contrasting regions of India, U.S., and Europe Analysis: Gogol gets a sense of how rich and diverse India is when the Gangulis take a visit to Agra and see the Taj Mahal. It's a first glimpse into what will later become a part of his identity - his love of architecture.

"He goes shopping with her on Madison Avenue at stores they must be buzzed into, for cashmere cardigans and outrageously expensive English colognes that Maxine buys without deliberation or guilt."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: contrasting regions of India, U.S., and Europe Analysis: Maxine's world is very different from Gogol's. Growing up with a wealthy and privileged background, her New York City is the luxurious one, as this shopping trip down Madison Avenue demonstrates. Compare this experience of New York City to the drive Gogol takes with his parents' friends: they skip all the cultural sites and buy Indian goods. It's almost as if they visit two completely different cities.

"All of it he finds beautiful beyond description, and yet at the same time it depresses him that none of it is new to Moushumi, that she has seen it all hundreds of times [...] He admires her, even resents her a little, for having moved to another country and made a separate life. He realizes that this is what their parents had done in America. What he, in all likelihood, will never do."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: contrasting regions of India, U.S., and Europe Analysis: Moving to another country is a chance to remake yourself. Only it's hard to do that when your wife has already lived in Paris, and formed a Parisian identity. Gogol has to confront the fact that the Moushumi who lived in Paris is very different from the Moushumi he knows.

Ashima regrets that they can't go earlier, in time for Durga pujo, but it will be years before Ashoke is eligible for a sabbatical, and three weeks in December is all they can manage. "It is like going home a few months after your Christmas," Ashima explains to Judy one day over the clothesline.

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: contrasting regions of India, U.S., and Europe Analysis: Not only is India geographically distant, but it also has a different sense of time, with different holidays. It's hard to live on an Indian calendar in America, where people have never even heard of things like Durga pujo.

"Part of him know this is a privilege, to be here with a person who knows the city so well, but the other part of him wants simply to be a tourist, fumbling with a phrase book, looking at all the buildings on his list, getting lost."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: contrasting regions of India, U.S., and Europe Analysis: The difference between Moushumi's and Gogol's attitudes toward Paris doesn't bode well for their relationship. Moushumi feels at home in Paris, which is neither India nor America; Gogol wants to be a tourist and see everything with new, fresh eyes.

"Apart from visiting relatives there was nothing to do in Calcutta. He's already been to the planetarium and the Zoo Garden and the Victoria Memorial a dozen times. They have never been to Disneyland or the Grand Canyon."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: contrasting regions of India, U.S., and Europe Analysis: The tourist hotspots of Calcutta are compared to the tourist hotspots of the United States. It seems like Gogol resents being carted around to the sites of Calcutta when he's never even seen the sites back in America.

"Having been deprived of the company of her own parents upon moving to America, her children's independence, their need to keep their distance from her, is something she will never understand."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: Another source of unhappiness for Ashima is her children's desire for independence, particularly since she comes from a culture in which extended families are part of your everyday life. The more independent they become, the farther away they grow from their Bengali roots.

"The shameful truth was that she was not involved, was in fact desperately lonely [...] Sometimes she wondered if it was her horror of being married to someone she didn't love that had caused her, subconsciously, to shut herself off."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: As a young woman, Moushumi is unable to have relationships because of her fear of turning into her mother, a woman who entered an arranged marriage and didn't marry for love. She is afraid of the example that has been set for her by her culture.

"They are not willing to accept, to adjust, to settle for something less than their ideal of happiness."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: Ashima is thinking here of Gogol's divorce from Moushumi. Which brings up the question, does having an ideal of happiness actually cause unhappiness because it leads to disappointed hopes? Should characters learn to settle?

On more than one occasion he has come home from the university to find her morose, in bed, rereading her parents' letters.

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: Ashima's homesickness is a major source of unhappiness. Unlike Ashoke, who seems more comfortable with immigrating, Ashima is constantly comparing her life in the United States to her life in India. She's not unhappy because she doesn't fit in in America. She is sad because she grieves for the life she lost in India.

"For by now, he's come to hate questions pertaining to his name, hates having constantly to explain. He hates having to tell people that it doesn't mean anything "in Indian.""

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: Gogol is unusually self-conscious about his name and how it marks him as "different." But it's just a name, right? Why does he let it make himself so unhappy?

"A year later, the shock has worn off, but a sense of failure and shame persists, deep and abiding [...] It's as if a building he'd been responsible for designing has collapsed for all to see."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: Gogol's failed marriage is described in architectural terms, which is fitting for a character who's an architect. The home metaphor also links Gogol and Moushumi's failed marriage to their vexed relationship to their family homes. Their marriage was doomed from the start because of where these two came from, not because of anything they did.

"And yet the familiarity that had once drawn her to him has begun to keep her at bay. Though she knows it's not his fault, she can't help but associate him, at times, with a sense of resignation, with the very life she has resisted, has struggled so mightily to leave behind."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: Gogol's intuition isn't off base. We know that Moushumi really wanted to distance herself from her parents, and now, with Gogol, she resents the fact that her marriage is the perfect example of what her parents wanted for her.

"She accused him of nothing, but more and more he sensed her distance, her dissatisfaction, her distraction [...] "Are you happy you married me?" he would ask. But the fact that he is even thinking of this question makes him afraid."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: Moushumi's unhappiness in their marriage is apparent in her total lack of enthusiasm. Notice that we don't even get to hear her answer to Gogol's question. That's not a very good sign, now is it?

"He doesn't feel jealous of her past per se. It's only that sometimes Gogol wonders whether he represents some sort of capitulation or defeat."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: Ouch. It's not a good sign if you even suspect that your wife associates you with giving up on life. No wonder they both seem so dissatisfied with their marriage.

"It is a meal he knows it has taken his mother over a day to prepare, and yet the amount of effort embarrasses him."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: When he is dating Maxine, Gogol is perhaps the most self-conscious about his Indian heritage, and really tries to distance himself from it. How could he be embarrassed about his mother after all that work? If anything, Ashima should be embarrassed by his behavior.

"Ashima feels lonely suddenly, horribly, permanently alone, and briefly, turned away from the mirror, she sobs for her husband. She feels overwhelmed by the thought of the move she is about to make, to the city that was once home and is now in its own way foreign."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: dissatisfaction Analysis: While at the beginning of the novel Ashima cries for Calcutta, at the end of the novel she cries for her husband and their life together, signaling a shift in the way she thinks of home and happiness.

"He knows now the guilt that his parents carried inside, at being able to do nothing when their parents had died in India, of arriving weeks, sometimes months later, when there was nothing left to do [...] Years later Gogol had learned the significance, that it was a Bengali son's duty to shave his head in the wake of his parent's death."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: family Analysis: As Gogol grows up, his attitude toward his family changes, and he realizes how much he loves them - but only after his father has died. It's too late to reconnect with his dad, but it might not be too late for him to learn about his Bengali roots.

"In some senses Ashoke and Ashima live the lives of the extremely aged, those for whom everyone they once knew and loved is lost, those who survive and are consoled by memory alone. Even those family members who continue to live seem dead somehow, always invisible, impossible to touch."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: family Analysis: Ashima and Ashoke feel cut off from the families they left behind in India. Of course they have their children with them in America, but the network of their extended family is thousands of miles away. They have no support system, and that's one of the things that makes life difficult.

"For the sake of Gogol and Sonia they celebrate, with progressively increasing fanfare, the birth of Christ, an event the children look forward to far more than the worship of Durga and Saraswati."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: family Analysis: Ashoke and Ashima seem to adopt American customs for the sake of their American-born children. Do they have anything to gain from assimilating, too?

"Being rescued from that shattered train had been the first miracle of his life. But here, now, reposing in his arms, weighing next to nothing but changing everything, is the second."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: family Analysis: Ashoke is delighted with the birth of his son, which he associates with his miraculous rescue from a train wreck. For Ashoke, family will continue to be a source of happiness, no matter how much Gogol tries to muck it up in the future.

"At times, as the laughter at Gerald and Lydia's table swells, and another bottle of wine is opened, and Gogol raises his glass to be filled yet again, he is conscious of the fact that his immersion in Maxine's family is a betrayal of his own."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: family Analysis: Gogol gets absorbed into Maxine's family, where he gets to live out the fantasy of having an Anglo-American family. But why does he have that family in the first place? What is it about his own family that isn't quite up to snuff?

"Ashoke wonders how closely Gogol resembles himself at this age. But there are no photographs to document Ashoke's childhood; not until his passport, not until his life in America, does visual documentation exist."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: family Analysis: That's got to be tough. Memories are usually accompanied by photographs, but it's as if much of Ashoke's childhood has been erased. This probably makes it harder for Gogol to relate to his dad, too, because he has no proof that Ashoke was once young like him.

"Instead he tells her what Rana told him a few minutes ago, what Rana couldn't bear to tell his sister, over the telephone, himself: that her father died yesterday evening, of a heart attack, playing patience on his bed."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: family Analysis: There is a certain reserve, even between family members, that makes it difficult for Rana, Ashima's brother, to tell Ashima that her father has died. Only Ashoke is able to do so, because he and Ashima are so close.

"He didn't want to go home on the weekends, to go with them to pujos and Bengali parties, to remain unquestionably in their world."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: family Analysis: Unlike his parents, who yearn to be back in the world of their parents and families, Gogol wants to create as much distance between himself and his parents as possible. That means avoiding their foreign customs, which seem to bother Gogol most of all.

"Remember that you and I made this journey, that we went together to a place where there was nowhere left to go."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: family Analysis: What a great moment between father and son. Gogol can cherish this memory when he grows older and his dad is gone. It's a rare moment of connection between the two of them.

"Though there are only inches between them, for an instant his father is a stranger, a man who has kept a secret, has survived a tragedy, a man whose past he does not fully know."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: family Analysis: When Gogol finds out the source of his name it should be a moment of revelation right? An ah-ha moment, no? He has the chance to better understand his roots and his identity. But instead, he focuses on the fact that father has now become a stranger to him. Why do you think that is?

Ashima thinks it's strange that her child will be born in a place most people enter either to suffer or to die [...] In India, she thinks to herself, women go home to their parents to give birth, away from husbands and in-laws and household cares, retreating briefly to childhood when the baby arrives.

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: forgiveness and "the other" Analysis: Apparently, giving birth is quite a different event in India. In fact, for Ashima, doing it the Indian way sounds kind of nice. At least she wouldn't be alone in a room full of strangers. Even the very beginning of life is different over in America.

"Living with a pet name and a good name, in a place where such distinctions do not exist - surely that was emblematic of the greatest confusion of all."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: forgiveness and "the other" Analysis: Even if Gogol manages to fit in in the states, and totally assimilate into American culture (and he comes close with Maxine, don't you think?), his name will always stand in the way. Or at least that's what he seems to think. Maybe if he just stopped worrying about it, it wouldn't be such a big deal.

"Upon returning to Calcutta, Gogol and Sonia both get terribly ill. It is the air, the rice, the wind, their relatives casually remark; they were not made to survive in a poor country, they say."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: forgiveness and "the other" Analysis: Even their bodies can't adjust to India. They don't feel at home there, physically and emotionally. Their relatives seem to think it's a result of their privilege. They get sick because they live in a rich country, and can't handle the food of a poor one.

"For a few days, in Agra, which is as foreign to Ashima and Ashoke as it is to Gogol and Sonia, they are tourists, staying at a hotel with a swimming pool, sipping bottled water, eating in restaurants with forks and spoons, paying by credit card."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: forgiveness and "the other" Analysis: In Agra, the Gangulis are all tourists. Even though Ashima and Ashoke are at home in India, they are acting like westerners by staying in hotels and using credit. This also reminds us of the way that Gogol often has a tourist-like appreciation for the American homes he visits.

"Within minutes, before their eyes Ashoke and Ashima slip into bolder, less complicated versions of themselves, their voices louder, their smiles wider, revealing a confidence Gogol and Sonia never see on Pemberton Road."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: forgiveness and "the other" Analysis: In a reversal, when they are in India, it is Gogol and Sonia who feel foreign and different, while Ashoke and Ashima are totally at home (and yet a bit foreign to their children, who are surprised to see their change). But do Gogol and Sonia feel completely at home anywhere, even in the United States? It's possible that their situation is even tougher than that of their parents, because they don't belong in America or in India.

"For being a foreigner, Ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of lifelong pregnancy - a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. It is an ongoing responsibility, a parenthesis in what had once been ordinary life, only to discover that that previous life has vanished, replaced by something more complicated and demanding."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: forgiveness and "the other" Analysis: Intense, right? It almost sounds as if she is a ghost, hovering between a "previous life" and "something more complicated." Do you think Ashima ever manages to get out of this state? Does the burden ever lift?

"The occasion: Gogol's annaprasan, his rice ceremony. There is no baptism for Bengali babies, no ritualistic naming in the eyes of God. Instead, the first formal ceremony of their lives centers on the consumption of solid food."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: forgiveness and "the other" Analysis: The Gangulis preserve some traditions in America, including the annaprasan. Why do you think they choose to keep this particular tradition, and let others go? Is it because they are still fairly new to America at this point, or is it because there is something special about the annaprasan?

"In Bengali the word for pet name is daknam [...] Every pet name is paired with a good name, a bhalonam, for identification in the outside world."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: forgiveness and "the other" Analysis: The Gangulis' attitude toward names gets them into trouble with American bureaucrats, because in the States, everyone has to have a proper name. It sounds simple enough, but it throws a wrench in the Bengali tradition.

"For reasons he cannot explain or necessarily understand, these ancient Puritan spirits, these very first immigrants to America, these bearers of unthinkable, obsolete names, have spoken to him, so much so that in spite of his mother's disgust he refuses to throw the rubbings away."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: forgiveness and "the other" Analysis: The young Gogol finds comfort in the odd names he finds in the Puritan graveyard. Maybe they help him feel a little less foreign. Or maybe they help him realize that just about everyone is foreign in America.

"She has the gift of accepting her life; as he comes to know her, he realizes that she has never wished she were anyone other than herself, raised in any other place, in any other way. This, in his opinion, is the biggest difference between them, a thing far more foreign to him than the beautiful house she'd grown up in, her education at private schools."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: forgiveness and 'the other" Analysis: What's funny here is that even though Maxine fits right into American life, and is living the American dream, she is foreign to Gogol. He has no idea what it's like to live a life like hers.

"Though they are home they are disconcerted by the space, by the uncompromising silence that surrounds them. They still feel somehow in transit, still disconnected from their lives, bound up in an alternate schedule, an intimacy only the four of them share."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: home Analysis: After they get back from India, the Gangulis are reminded of just how different their American life is from the one they might have had in India. America is quiet while India is boisterous, loud, and crowded. Where do you think they feel more at ease now?

"They all come from Calcutta, and for this reason alone they are friends."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: home Analysis: Calcutta becomes a powerful bond for these émigrés, which holds them together even when they move apart and have families. Friendship is yet another way they can try to recreate their Calcutta homes over in the states.

"The apartment consists of three rooms all in a row without a corridor [...] It is not at all what she had expected. Not at all like the houses in Gone with the Wind or The Seven-Year-Itch."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: home Analysis: For Ashima, America is not all it's cracked up to be. Can you blame her for being disappointed? Life as the wife of a graduate student is a humble one. She will not be living the Scarlett O'Hara life.

"And then the house will be occupied by strangers, and there will be no trace that they were ever there, no house to enter, no name in the telephone directory. Nothing to signify the years his family has lived here, no evidence of the effort, the achievement it had been."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: home Analysis: For most of the novel, Gogol avoids going home to his family's house because of his conflicted feelings about his Indian heritage. Now that it's about to disappear, he appreciates it for the first time. Is it too little too late?

"Somehow, this small miracle causes Ashima to feel connected to Cambridge in a way she has not previously thought possible."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: home Analysis: In the first couple of years in the United States, Ashima gradually warms to American life, particularly when she experiences random acts of kindness. When someone takes her shopping bags to the lost and found, it tells her that not everyone here is a mean stranger. There are nice folks, too.

"Thinking of his father living here alone in these past three months, he feels the first threat of tears, but he knows that his father did not mind, that he was not offended by such things."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: home Analysis: Not much of a home, is it? Gogol is depressed by his father's temporary apartment in Ohio, because it's an empty, lonely place. But it was also the last place his father lived, and that's a hard fact for Gogol to swallow.

"He is stunned by the house, a Greek Revival, admiring it for several minutes like a tourist before opening the gate."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: home Analysis: Part of Maxine's attraction for Gogol is her lavish family home, which is so different from the house at 67 Pemberton Road. One look at the Greek Revival, and you know this girl is loaded.

"Ashima has been consuming this concoction throughout her pregnancy, a humble approximation of the snack sold for pennies on Calcutta sidewalks and on railway platforms throughout India, spilling from newspaper cones."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: home Analysis: Poor Ashima. She wants desperately to recreate Calcutta life in the United States, be she has to resort to Rice Krispies and Planter's nuts. No wonder the snack doesn't taste quite right.

"It is a different brand of hospitality from what he is used to; for though the Ratliffs are generous, they are people who do not go out of their way to accommodate others, assured, in his case correctly, that their life will appeal to him."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: home Analysis: The Ratliffs entertain differently from the Gangulis, who shower their guests with attention. Ashima bends over backwards to make sure her guests are comfortable, while the Ratliffs take a hands-off approach. But there is a hint of ego involved in the Ratliffs' entertaining style. They are confident that their guests will love their stay, even if the Ratliffs don't heed their every beck and call.

"In the end, they decide on a shingled, two-story colonial in a recently built development, a house previously occupied by no one, erected on a quarter acre of land. [...] The address is 67 Pemberton Road."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: home Analysis: The first home the Gangulis buy is in a suburb where they are one of the only Indian families. Still, owning property gives them a shot at feeling at home. Now they have a little corner of the world that they can make their own.

""Teleologically speaking, ABCDs are unable to answer the question 'Where are you from?'" the sociologist on the panel declares. Gogol has never heard the term ABCD. He eventually gathers that it stands for "American-born confused deshi." In other words, him."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: Aside from the apt term ABCD, our favorite part about this quote is the world "teleologically." Teleology refers to the notion that things have an end, which gives them purpose. Things like progress, history, and religion can be teleological. But in this case, the word makes absolutely no sense. It simply doesn't apply to a human being, or an ABCD. So we can't help but think that Lahiri threw it in there with a wink to make this sociologist sound pretentious and ridiculous. Job well done.

"Gogol frowns, and his lower lip trembles. Only then, forced at six months to confront his destiny, does he begin to cry."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: At six months, Gogol is already refusing to participate in traditional Indian rituals. He's not ready to confront his destiny, and for much of the book, we wonder if he ever will be.

"She plays with the dirt they've dug up from the yard and threatens to put the dollar bill in her mouth. "This one," one of the guests remarks, "this one is the true American.""

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: Check out Sonia's behavior at her annaprasan in comparison to her brother's. How does this difference play out in their identities as they grow up?

"Moushumi has kept her last name. She doesn't adopt Ganguli, not even with a hyphen. Her own last name, Mazoomdar, is already a mouthful. With a hyphenated surname, she would no longer fit into a window of a business envelope. Besides, by now she has begun to publish under Moushumi Mazoomdar, the name printed at the top of footnoted articles on French feminist theory in a number of prestigious academic journals [...]"

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: For Moushumi, identity issues as a Bengali-American are even more complicated because she is a woman. For her, naming has a gender angle. Tradition says she should change her name to her husband's, but she doesn't want to do so, and in this case, she is bucking both Bengali and American tradition. She is quite the rebel, that Moushumi.

""There's no such thing as a perfect name. I think that human beings should be allowed to name themselves when they turn eighteen," he adds. "Until then, pronouns.""

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: Gogol's attitude toward names is even more radical than his parents, who stick with the Bengali custom of pet names until they decide on a formal name. He seems to think that you can't know who you are until you're at least eighteen, so why have a name before then? This implies, of course, that a name has something to do with who you are. Do you put as much stock in names as Gogol does?

"Without people in the world to call him Gogol, no matter how long he himself lives, Gogol Ganguli will, once and for all, vanish from the lips of loved ones, and so, cease to exist. Yet the thought of this eventual demise provides no sense of victory, no solace. It provides no solace at all."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: Gogol's identity is closely tied to his name. By the end of the novel, the idea that there might be a time where no family members will be around to call him "Gogol" saddens him. Maybe he likes that name a bit more than he realized, not because of how it sounds, but because of who calls him that.

"And yet to a casual observer, the Gangulis, apart from the name on their mailbox, apart from the issues of India Abroad and Sangbad Bichitra that are delivered there, appear no different from their neighbors [...] There are other ways in which Ashoke and Ashima give in."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: How in the world are Ashoke and Ashima supposed to choose which American customs to adopt and which ones to ignore? Should they only do what's easy, or make a big effort to fit in? Do you think they strike a good balance in the novel?

"He is afraid to be Nikhil, someone he doesn't know. Who doesn't know him [...] It's a part of growing up, they tell him, of being a Bengali."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: In kindergarten, Gogol tries on a new, more formal name - and doesn't like it one bit, even though having a pet name and a formal name is Bengali custom. What's interesting here is that he thinks changing his name just might change his identity. He'll become a different person. But Gogol, it's just a name, right?

"In history class, Gogol has learned that European immigrants had their names changed at Ellis Island, that slaves renamed themselves once they were emancipated. Though Gogol doesn't know it, even Nikolai Gogol renamed himself, simplifying his surname at the age of twenty-two from Gogol-Yanovsky to Gogol upon publication in the Literary Gazette."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: It turns out name changing has been a rite of passage for many immigrants to the United States. Maybe this is what makes Gogol so willing to change his name to Nikhil. Even though that name is Indian, and therefore foreign, it's still a way for him to participate in the immigrant experience.

"They've learned their lesson after Gogol. They've learned that schools in America will ignore parents' instructions and register a child under his pet name. The only way to avoid such confusion, they have concluded, is to do away with the pet name altogether, as many of their Bengali friends have done."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: identity Analysis: Poor Gogol. As the first born, he's the guinea pig for Ashoke and Ashima. The lessons they learn from raising him prepare them for the challenges of raising their second child, who finds more success in navigating the struggle to find an in America as a Bengali.

"They had both acted on the same impulse, that was their mistake. They had both sought comfort in each other, and in their shared world, perhaps for the sake of novelty, or out of the fear that the world is slowly dying."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Although Moushumi is the one who had an affair, Gogol knows that their marriage wasn't based on real love, but impulse. He accepts some responsibility for what happened. Do you think this is fair?

"They've even gone so far as to point out examples of Bengali men they know who've married Americans, marriages that have ended in divorce. It only makes things worse when he says that marriage is the last thing on his mind."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Ashima and Ashoke have a completely different notion of love and marriage than Gogol. They see love as something tied to marriage and families; Gogol admits that he is more interested in sex. That has to make for some awkward parental powwows.

"Like a kiss or caress in a Hindi movie, a husband's name is something intimate and therefore unspoken, cleverly patched over."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Ashima and Ashoke's relationship may not be as physically affectionate as, say, the Ratliffs', but they have other ways of showing affection, and they seem deeply, totally in love.

"It is as Nikhil that he loses his virginity at a party at Ezra Stile, with a girl wearing a plaid woolen skirt and combat boots and mustard tights."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Gogol can only get up the confidence to hit on girls with his new name, Nikhil. Is that because he thinks the name Gogol is just plain unattractive, or because a new identity makes him bolder?

"He had not expected to enjoy himself, to be attracted to her in the least. It strikes him that there is no term for what they once were to each other."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Gogol unexpectedly enjoys his first date with Moushumi, which breaks the pattern of all of his previous relationships with non-Indian women. Maybe there's something to be said for dating someone who understands his background.

"And then he remembers that his parents can't possibly reach him: he has not given them the number, and the Ratliffs are unlisted. That here at Maxine's side, in this cloistered wilderness, he is free."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Gogol views his romantic relationship as an escape from his past. Come to think of it, it's not clear why else Gogol is attracted to Maxine other than the fact that she is different from him, and different from his family. That's hardly the greatest foundation for a relationship. No wonder it eventually falls apart.

"This assurance is important to her; along with the Sanskrit vows she'd repeated at her wedding, she'd privately vowed that she'd never grow fully dependent on her husband, as her mother has."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Moushumi does not want to repeat what she views as her mother's mistake. But this vow sets her up for failure later, when she begins to push Gogol away.

"He cannot imagine coming from such parents, such a background, and when he describes his own upbringing it feels bland by comparison."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: The first girls Gogol dates are not Indian, and it is their American-ness that attracts him. This particular girl, for example, is from Maine and has divorced parents, which would be unthinkable in Bengali society, so to Gogol it's exciting and exotic.

"[...] Gogol is reminded that in all his life he has never witnessed a single moment of physical affection between his parents. Whatever love exists between them is an utterly private, uncelebrated thing."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: These two are extremely anti-PDA. But does that mean that they love each other any less? Probably not. They're just private people. Their love is just between them, and it's nobody else's business.

"Don't get me wrong, Graham's a great guy. But they were too alike somehow, too intense together."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Uh oh. Shmoop smells serious trouble, and our heart goes out to Gogol here. Who wants to hear that his wife was more "intense" with another man?

"The name alone, when she'd first learned it, had been enough to seduce her. Dimitri Desjardins."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: Uh oh. Unlike Gogol, the name "Dimitri Desjardins" is totally sexy. It's got a French, Russian, sophisticated thing going on, like a name from a romance novel. Gogol is a Russian name too, but it's not as romantic sounding as Dimitri.

"It reminds her of living in Paris - for a few hours at Dimitri's she is inaccessible, anonymous."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: love Analysis: You could say Moushumi is in the same place Gogol was in when he was dating Maxine. She sees her affair with Dimitri as an escape from who she is. Frankly, we wish she had just opted for marriage counseling.

""I just don't see you with some Indian guy," Astrid had said dismissively over salads at City Bakery."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: "Indian guy" seems to mean "uncool guy" to Lydia and Astrid; beneath their cool and chic exteriors, they have troubling attitudes about race.

""I detest American television," Moushumi eventually declares to everyone's delight, then wanders into the hallway to continue her reading."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: A little pretentious, isn't she? And she's only a kid at this point. Maybe Moushumi acts this way as a way to distance herself from her fellow Indians and Indian-Americans. She certainly stands out in this scene.

There is a thrill to whittling down her possessions to little more than what she'd come with, to those three rooms in Cambridge in the middle of a winter's night.

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: Ashima chucks all her possession as she begins her new lifestyle, spending equal time in India and America. It's exciting for her, and takes her back to her younger days as a newlywed in Cambridge, when she had nothing much but love for her husband and her soon-to-be-born son.

"Donald and Astrid are a languidly confident couple, a model, Gogol guesses, for how Moushumi would like their own lives to be [...] Their decrees drive Gogol crazy. But Moushumi is loyal. She regularly goes out of her way, and thus out of their budget, to buy bread at that bakery, meat at that butcher."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: Donald and Astrid are basically younger versions of Gerald and Lydia. They are high-class couples who live lives of luxury and aren't afraid to admit it. Or flaunt it, for that matter.

"He has fallen the tiniest bit in love with Lydia and with the understated, unflustered way she entertains. He is always struck by these dinners: only a dozen or so guests sitting around the candlelit table, a carefully selected mix of painters, editors, academics, gallery owners, eating the meal course by course, talking intelligently until the evening's end."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: During his relationship with Maxine, Gogol is seduced by the way her family entertains: it's an elite, cultured, sophisticated lifestyle, in contrast to the way his parents indiscriminately collect Bengali friends just because they are Bengali. But really, which couple is shallower in the end?

"Moushumi wonders how long she will live her life with the trappings of studenthood in spite of the fact that she is a married woman [...] It would have been different with Graham - he'd made more than enough money for both of them."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: Moushumi is definitely more interested in status than Gogol is. She still dreams of her ex's lifestyle. But why? What is it about her life that isn't good enough for her?

"Later that night he is alone in his room, listening to side 3 of the White Album on his parents' cast-off RCA turntable. The album is a present from his American birthday party, given to him by one of his friends from school."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: Possessions say a lot about characters. Here, Gogol's preference for the Beatles' White Album also indicates his preference for western culture. Russian short stories? No thanks. Pop music? Don't mind if he does.

"He has no ABCD friends at college. He avoids them, for they remind him too much of the way his parents choose to live, befriending people not so much because they like them, but because of a past they happen to share."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: We learn in this passage that ABCD is a term that stands for "American-born confused deshi." But confused about what, exactly?

"Something tells him that none of this is for his benefit, that this is the way the Ratliffs eat every night. Gerald is a lawyer, and Lydia is a curator of textiles at the Met. They are at once satisfied and intrigued by his background, by his years at Yale and Columbia, his career as an architect, his Mediterranean looks. "You could be Italian," Lydia remarks at one point during the meal, regarding him in the candle's glow."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: Weirdly, Gerald and Lydia seem to appreciate Gogol as yet another ornament in their massive collection of fancy things There's something disturbing about the way Lydia appreciates his "Italian" looks, as if looking Indian wasn't somehow posh enough.

"He knows that the approval of these people means something to her, though what exactly he isn't sure. And yet, as much as Moushumi enjoys seeing Astrid and Donald, Gogol has recently begun to notice that she is gloomy in the aftermath, as if seeing them serves only to remind her that their own lives will never match up."

Work: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Theme: society and class Analysis: While Gogol has gotten over his infatuation with the Ratliffs, Moushumi hasn't gotten over her love of Astrid and Donald and their lifestyle. This seems like just one more thing to add to our long list of reasons the two of them are growing apart.

"Bosoms may wave in the breeze, mind you, but legs must be strictly hidden, top secret."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: contrasting regions of Congo and U.S. Analysis: Rachel's a child of the 1960s, so she doesn't remember a time when American women also had to keep their legs hidden from view. The bosoms, however, well... Let's be practical. Maybe with all the children the villagers have needing to be fed, it makes more sense to just let them run free. (The bosoms and the children.)

"I was glad nobody wanted to cut off my hands. Because Jesus made me white, I reckon they wouldn't."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: injustice Analysis: As young as five, Ruth May learned about white privilege. But, oops: the Prices quickly learn they're not immune. In the Congo, it's not the color of your skin, but where you are, that has consequences. Ruth May finds herself in the same place as a snake, and the consequence is death.

"How can this be, a castle with spires and a moat? Why doesn't the world just open its jaws like a whale and swallow this brazenness in one gulp?"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: injustice Analysis: Er ... has it ever? Mobutu's crimes against the people of Congo are reprehensible. He's the 1% with 99% of the people's money—but the people are so oppressed that they can't even imagine revolting.

"There is not justice in this world. [...] This world has brought one vile abomination after another down on the heads of the gentle, and I'll not live to see the meek inherit anything."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: injustice Analysis: Here's Leah a couple decades later. Now, she doesn't only believe that the world is unfair, she's believes there's a complete lack of justice in the world. Is she being realistic or pessimistic?

"Why does Congolese have a word for the "truest truth" when English does not? Do the words a language contains tell you anything about the people who speak it—and is English just better for lying with?"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis:

"Fufu nsala, Mama Tatabla called us. [...] A forest-dwelling, red-headed rat that runs from sunlight."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis: Boy, the Congolese sure have a colorful language, huh? They of course have words for things they encounter on a daily basis. Unfortunately, there's another red-headed rat they have to deal with daily: Nathan Price.

"A drum gives nommo in Congo, where drums have language."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis: Communication and language (and not just human verbal language) is so important in the Congo that things don't get life until they get names. But Christianity seems to have a similar belief—like the story of Adam in Genesis, where Adam gets to name all of God's creatures.

"So much depends on the tone of voice."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis: Getting the right tone of voice requires careful attention to the way people speak. Nathan Price pays no attention to the way people speak, and so the varying cadences of his preacher-speak end up causing more harm than good.

"To get one good connection made, you have to understand the Kituba, the Lingala, the Bembe, Kunyi, Vili, Ndingi, and the bleeding talking drums."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis: It might seem like the Congo, at just a fraction of the size of the U.S., should be able to get its political eggs into one basket. However, imagine if every state in the U.S. had its own language. (And we're not just talking about the great "pop" vs. "soda" debate.) Communication and cooperation would be next to impossible.

"You wouldn't even get as far as breakfast before running out of paper. You'd have to explain the words, and then the words for the words."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis: Leah talks about the impossibility of explaining Africa in a letter home. Hey, Barbara Kingsolver had to write an almost-600-page book about the Congo, and she's just scratched the surface! There's a lot more to communication than just translating the words.

"[Nzolo] means "most dearly beloved." [...] Or it is a type of tiny potato that turns up in the market. [...] I think it must be the god of small potatoes."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis: Many Congolese words have multiple meanings, which makes you wonder how Anatole interprets Nathan Price's sermons. Which meaning does he use when talking to the villagers? And how might this relate to questions of Biblical translation? Food for thought.

"When I want to take God at his word exactly, I take a peep out the window at Creation. Because that, darling, He makes fresh for us every day without a lot of dubious middle managers."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: man and the natural world Analysis: Brother Fowles, a preacher himself, doesn't really believe in preachers as evidence of God. He believes in the everyday miracles of nature.

"The way I see Africa, you don't have to like it but you sure have to admit it's out there."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: man and the natural world Analysis: Here's Rachel, once again demonstrating her legendary acceptance and tolerance/snark. You can replace "Africa" with "nature" here and get a similar result. It's out there, and whether you like it or not, you'll be a stronger person if you can learn to live with it.

"My household would pass through the great digestive tract of Kilanga and turn into sights unseen."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: man and the natural world Analysis: If you don't get eaten by lions or ants or snakes, you can still get eaten by the jungle itself—and transformed in the process. At least Orleanna's still alive at the end of it.

"[Nathan] raised [the plate] over her head and slammed it down hard on the table, cracking it right in two."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: marriage Analysis: Just like the dish in Ethan Frome, or the bowl in The Golden Bowl, this plate is a big fat symbol for the Prices' marriage, and this action represents the breaking point of Orleanna and Nathan's union. Unlike in Ethan Frome, the Conogolese food is actually better. At least the Congolese don't eat donuts and pickles.

"The loss of a life: unwelcome. Immoral? I don't know."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: Adah encounters quite a dilemma as a doctor in the United States. In the Congo, death is a sometimes necessary part of life. It prevents overpopulation, and the hunger and conflict that results from it. Plus, Adah doesn't separate human life from "life" in general. All living things matter to her.

"American aid will be the Congo's salvation. You'll see!"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: politics Analysis: American "aid" ends up being more like the Congo's damnation. Nathan, despite a world view so narrow you couldn't slide a sheet of paper through it sideways, might actually have his heart in the right place here. He thinks he really can help these people, whereas the American government just wants to take advantage of them. Slavery isn't slavery if it's happening in another country, right??

"We are making a vote for Jesus Christ in the office of personal God, Kilanga village."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: politics Analysis: In the villages of the Congo, gods can dictate life, like a leader can. Now that the Congo has learned democracy, why not apply that to God? Seems like solid reasoning to us.

"These people can't even read a simple slogan: Vote for Me. Down with Shapoopie! An election! Who out here would even know it happened?"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: politics Analysis: So much wrong with this sentence. Perhaps we were wrong when we said Nathan's heart was in the right place. Here, he shows himself to be painfully ignorant and insensitive.

"In organic chemistry, invertebrate zoology, and the inspired symmetry of Mendelian genetics, I [Adah] have found a religion that serves."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: Adah falls out of Christianity—and stops believing in God—because her Sunday School teacher tells us that people born in the Congo do not go to heaven. Presto. As simple as that. Perhaps Adah considers science her religion because science is fair. It treats everyone and everything equally, from the smallest creature to the largest.

"I continued to stare at the traffic light, which glowed red. Suddenly a green arrow popped on, pointing left, and the row of cars like obedient animals all went left. I laughed out loud."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: contrasting regions of Congo and U.S. Analysis: Adah is amused by the rules of urban American life. (It's all fun and games until someone doesn't follow the traffic laws.) Are the people following these urban laws civilized people or merely blindly obedient—and is being blindly obedient the best way to stay safe in countries like the U.S.?

"I wanted to live under the safe protection of somebody who wore decent clothes, bought meat from the grocery store like the Good Lord intended, and cared about others."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: contrasting regions of Congo and U.S. Analysis: Oh, Rachel. We must not have been reading very carefully, because we don't remember there being any supermarkets in the Bible. Rachel falls into the category of people who think America is blessed by God and everyone should and wants to live that way.

"Rex Minton said we better not go to the Congo on account of the cannibal natives would boil us in a pot and eat us up."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: contrasting regions of Congo and U.S. Analysis: Rex Minton is probably about five years old, but most American adults at this time have similarly enlightened opinions of the Congo and its people. (Cannibals, no: deadly snakes and goiters, yes.)

"I've heard foreign visitors complain that the Congolese are greedy, naive, and inefficient. They have no idea. The Congolese are skilled at survival and perceptive beyond belief or else dead at an early age."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: contrasting regions of Congo and U.S. Analysis: The "foreign visitors" Leah mentions are likely other white people who are unaccustomed to the ways of life in the Congo. The Congolese aren't trying to take advantage of other people; they're merely trying to survive.

"Most of America is perfectly devoid of smells. [...]Even in the grocery store, surrounded in one aisle by more kinds of food than will ever be known in a Congolese lifetime, there was nothing on the air but a vague, disinfected emptiness."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: contrasting regions of Congo and U.S. Analysis: The "foreign visitors" Leah mentions are likely other white people who are unaccustomed to the ways of life in the Congo. The Congolese aren't trying to take advantage of other people; they're merely trying to survive.

"Secretly, most [Congolese] believe white people know how to turn the sun on and off and make the river flow backward. [...] They think you represent a greedy nation."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: contrasting regions of Congo and U.S. Analysis: The Congolese view of whites is about as backwards as whites' view of the Congolese. Why do the Congolese hold whites up to these god-like standards? Perhaps it's because the whites march into the Congo pretty much acting like they can do these things.

"When I go with them to the grocery, [Anatole and Leah] are boggled and frightened and secretly scornful. [...] It is as if our Rachel had been left suddenly in charge of everything."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: contrasting regions of Congo and U.S. Analysis: The grocery store, a foreign concept to anyone living in the jungles of Congo, can seem like a bright symbol of American excess (and a horrible place to hide from zombies). So much food that will never be eaten, and so many things we don't really need.

"Every few years, even now, I catch the scent of Africa. [...] Ripe fruits, acrid sweat, urine, flowers, dark spices."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: contrasting regions of Congo and U.S. Analysis: The scent of Africa is a piquant blend, much likes its jungles, of the beauty of nature and the less-than-glamorous realities of human life. (We all sweat and pee. Even Bradley Cooper.)

"What is the purpose of so many automobiles at the same time? [...] Why is nobody walking?"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: contrasting regions of Congo and U.S. Analysis: Um, we ask ourselves this question all. the. time.—especially when we're stuck on the 405. So, yep, we think Anatole makes a good point here. Everyone in America needs a car because things are so spread apart, but things are so spread apart because everyone has a car. It's a chicken/egg conundrum, and there may be no way to solve it.

"Was I the booby prize? [...] Am I alive only because Ruth May is dead?"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: guilt and blame Analysis: Adah's a little different than her sisters. She doesn't blame herself for Ruth May's death; she blames Ruth May's death for her own life.

"If [Nathan's] guilt made him a tyrant before men, it made him like a child before his God."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: guilt and blame Analysis: Correction: it makes him a petulant child before God, the type of child that tries to manipulate his parents (in this case, the Father) to get what he wants and throws a tantrum when it doesn't happen.

"What if I marked [Pascal] with some English word I taught him, as stupidly as we doomed our parrot?"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: guilt and blame Analysis: Even though Leah's practically in another country when Pascal is murdered by rival soldiers, she finds a way to take responsibility for his death. Now that's an overdeveloped sense of guilt.

"I shook [Ruth May] too hard and screamed at her. Maybe that was the last she knew of her sister Leah."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: guilt and blame Analysis: Even though Ruth May was probably insensible at this point after her snake bite, Leah still blames herself for making Ruth May's last seconds less than serene.

"She grew strong as I grew weak. (Yes! Jesus loves me!) And so it came to pass, in the Eden of our mother's womb, I was cannibalized by my sister."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: guilt and blame Analysis: If Adah believed in God, she'd probably blame Him for her disability. As it is, she accepts it ... but kind of holds Leah responsible.

"How could I leave Adah behind again? Once in the womb, once to the lion, and now like Simon Peter I had denied her for the third time."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: guilt and blame Analysis: If you don't have our Bible guide open side-by-side with this one, you'll want to check out Simon Peter, or Saint Peter, here. In one of his not-quite-finest moments, Simon Peter denies knowing Jesus after Jesus gets captured and hauled off to be crucified, and Leah similarly believes she has, once again, denied her sister Adah.

"This is your penance for sixteen years of pulling up your nose at my cooking."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: guilt and blame Analysis: Orleanna plays the blame card on Rachel, although the emotion of guilt never seems to register in her. (Hey, that's moms for you.)

"If I could reach backward somehow to give Father just one gift, it would be the simple human relief of knowing you've done wrong, and living through it."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: guilt and blame Analysis: Talk about a gift that keeps on giving. Nathan is incapable of admitting he's guilty; Leah is incapable of admitting she's not.

""God hates us." [...] "Don't blame God for what ants have to do.""

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: guilt and blame Analysis: This interaction helps Leah transition from believing that God has the good of mankind at heart, to blaming Him for all the world's troubles, to maybe not believing in Him at all. Talk about a character arc.

"You would be free too. And I didn't want that. I wanted you to remember what he did to us."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: guilt and blame Analysis: While Rachel and Leah don't blame their mother for what happened to them (or they don't articulate it), Adah makes no qualms about her mother's culpability. She wants to make sure she lives with the guilt. (Hey, daddy issues aren't the only issues these girls have.)

"Leopoldville [has] nice paved streets for the whites, and surrounding it, for miles and miles, nothing but dusty run-down shacks for the Congolese. [...] Americans would never stand for this kind of unequal treatment."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: injustice Analysis: America being, at the time, the country of Jim Crow laws. And Rachel thinks they wouldn't stand for unequal treatment? LOL.

"Don't try to make life a mathematics problem with yourself in the center and everything coming out equal. When you are good, bad things can still happen. And if you are bad, you can still be lucky."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: injustice Analysis: Anatole tries to get Leah to understand that things just aren't fair. Give it a few decades: she's going to realize the truth of this firsthand.

"I live among men and women who've simply always understood their whole existence is worth less than a banana to white people. I see it in their eyes when they glance up at me."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: injustice Analysis: Okay, seriously. This is too sad for words. These people believe their lives are worthless because they've been treated that way by the whites that run the mines. (Plus, they probably don't even get paid enough to afford a banana.)

"According to my Baptist Sunday-school teacher, a child is denied entrance to heaven merely for being born in the Congo."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: injustice Analysis: Once again, white privilege rears its ugly head. This is an imaginary injustice that leads to an actual injustice: when these people think the dark races of the Congo need "saving." The only thing they need to be saved from is these people.

"Bongo Bango Bingo. That is the story of Congo they are telling now in America: a story of cannibals. [...] The guilty blame the damaged."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: injustice Analysis: The Americans' ignorance of the Congo isn't entirely their fault. It's also the fault of the American media, making the Congolese out to be communists or carefree bums.

"Mrs. Underdown tried to make friends with Mother by complaining about her houseboy. [...] "Honestly, Orleanna, he would steal everything except the children."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: injustice Analysis: The Underdowns live in luxury, have an excess of food and personal comforts, pay their servants very little ... and still manage to complain about them. Must be nice.

"Your King Baudouin is living off the fat of this land [...] and leaving it up to penniless mission doctors and selfless men like my husband to take care of their every simple need. Is that how a father rules?"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: injustice Analysis: Try capitalizing "Father" and then asking the same question. Nathan Price's Father (a.k.a. God) is an absent ruler who takes all of the credit and none of the blame for events in the human world. Is that how God rules?

"This word béene-béene, you want to know what it means, then? [...] It means, as true as the truth can be."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis:

"You know how to speak English and they don't."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis: If the situation were reversed, and the villagers of Kilanga were in America, this might actually matter. As it is, with the Prices being the only English speakers in the village, this "advantage" amounts to nothing more than a pile of fufu.

"Are they really speaking real words, or do little kids just start out naturally understanding each other before the prime of life sets in?"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis: Ooh, good question. Can what Ruth May does with the children of Congo be called "communication" or is it just playing?

""Tata Jesus is bangala!" declares the Reverend every Sunday. [...] Bangala means something precious and dear. But the way he pronounces it, it means the poisonwood tree. Praise the Lord, hallelujah, my friends! for Jesus will make you itch like nobody's business."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: language and communication Analysis: Pronunciation is key in Congolese. Once again, Nathan Price doesn't pay a lick of attention to proper pronunciation. And he wonders why people stay far away from him?

""Everything has to eat something." Even lions, I suppose."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: man and the natural world Analysis: Adah shrugs off almost getting devoured by a lion. To her, it's all part of the natural way of life. Who is she to deny a lion a good meal?

"We all get hungry. Congolese people are not so different from Congolese ants."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: man and the natural world Analysis: Anatole takes an attitude similar to Adah here: even ants have to eat. And as we see later, the humans are like the ants when they do their hunt. They burn the ground, trap the animals, and strip them of their flesh.

"Childhood was nothing guaranteed. It seemed to me, in fact, like something more or less invented by white people and stuck onto the front end of grown-up life like a frill on a dress."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: man and the natural world Analysis: Childhood is a man-made concept. In the Congo, everyone has to pull his or her own weight once they can walk on their own. It's like being a Boy Scout without the merit badges or the adult supervision.

""Where you'd be wearing out the knees of your trousers, sir, they just have to go ahead and wear out their knees!""

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: man and the natural world Analysis: In the Congo, bodies are like tools. They're used and abused, and some damage is irreparable. It's not a bad thing; it's just the way life is.

"If God had amused himself inventing the lilies of the field, he surely knocked His own socks off with the African parasites."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: man and the natural world Analysis: It's easy to forget that we're not the only creatures on this planet. There are millions of them that we can't even see. Does their size make them unimportant? Not to Adah—but definitely to Nathan.

"This forest eats itself and lives forever."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: man and the natural world Analysis: The forest is like a real life Ouroboros. Infinity is possible, but not without death and rebirth.

"The death of something living is the price of our survival, and we pay it again and again. We have no choice. It is the one solemn promise every life on earth is born and bound to keep."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: man and the natural world Analysis: This is Adah's observation after the hunt, and this is probably why she had a so-what attitude about the lion. If humans will kill and eat animals without a second thought, why shouldn't animals be allowed a fair crack at humans?

"The rusted embroidery hoops left an unsightly orange ring on the linen that may have damaged my prospects for good."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: marriage Analysis: As a young teenager, Leah totally buys into her father's idea that women are pretty much worthless if they're not married. With that in mind, her "skills" don't include anything useful like hunting or intelligence. Instead, they include embroidery, which she isn't even very good at.

""[Tata Ndu] can help your family by paying Tata Price some ivory and five or six goats and maybe a little bit of cash to take [Rachel] out of his house.""

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: marriage Analysis: At what price marriage? We're not sure if this is a good deal for Rachel or not. How many goats do you think she's worth? Consider that a goat is probably super useful in the Congo. Rachel, not so much.

"We were married [...] in a ceremony that was neither quite Christian nor Bantu."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: marriage Analysis: Leah decides to get married for love. Not because her faith tells her to, but because her heart tells her to. How novel!

"To resist occupation, whether you're a nation or merely a woman, you must understand the language of your enemy. Conquest and liberation and democracy and divorce are words that mean squat, basically, when you have hungry children and clothes to get out on the line."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: marriage Analysis: Once again the conquest vs. marriage idea raises its head. At this point, Orleanna is so soured on marriage that she considers a husband an "occupier" and an "enemy." Is there any truth to this sentiment?

""You make it sound like she's an accessory he needs to go with his outfit.""

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: marriage Analysis: Orleanna cannot comprehend that this is almost the exact motive for Tata Ndu wanting to marry Rachel, but it shouldn't be so surprising. The whole accessorizing-with-people thing isn't exclusive to the Congo, either. Ever heard the term "trophy wife"?

"My father says a girl who fails to marry is veering from God's plan—that's what he's got against college."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: marriage Analysis: The only reason Father is remotely interested in marriage is because the Bible makes such a big deal of it. Nathan, as a person, isn't interested in sex or marriage at all. (Plus, isn't college where you go to get your MRS degree?)

"What is the conqueror's wife, if not a conquest herself?"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: marriage Analysis: The themes of marriage and conquest, particularly conquest of the Congo, are intertwined throughout The Poisonwood Bible. Pro tip, ladies: don't ever marry (or even date, honestly) someone who sees you as a conquest.

"We Christians have our own system of marriage, and it is called Monotony."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: marriage Analysis: This is another one of Rachel's surprisingly accurate malapropisms... especially for her, to whom her endless successions of marriages are just one monotonous, monogamous event after the other.

"[The Kilanga girls' eyes] looks happy and sad at the same time. [...] Married eyes."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: marriage Analysis: What are the Kilanga girls sad about? What are they happy about? And can you have marriage without sorrow? A better question might be whether you can have adulthood without sorrow.

"I was not present at Ruth May's birth but I have seen it now, because I saw each step of it played out in reverse at the end of her life. The closing parenthesis. [...] Now she will wait the rest of the time. It will be exactly as long as the time that passed before she was born."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: Adah describes death as the opposite of birth, like a personal circle of life. We return to the oblivion we came from. (Oh, and it sounds like Adah's been reading some e. e. cummings.)

"Mr. Patrice will be the Prime Minister of the Congo now and it won't be the Belgian Congo anymore, it will be the Republic of Congo. And do you think anybody in this hip town we live in is actually going to notice?"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: Despite making fun of the guy's name, Rachel makes a good point here. Many citizens of the now Republic of Congo won't even notice a difference. Who is this change of power mostly going to benefit? And are the consequences of American elections really any different?

"In the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ [every death matters]. Even the sparrows that fall out of their nest and what not."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: It's surprising to hear this attitude from Rachel, who acts as though she's superior to everyone else. We guess death is the great equalizer, even to her. (Although check out that totally Rachel-esque "what not" at the end there.)

"Being dead is not worse than being alive. It is different, though. You could say the view is larger."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: Once she's dead, Ruth May can see everything: past, present, and future. (We can hardly see our iPhone screen without glasses these days, speaking of old age and death.) She's now part of the life force that the Congolese believe inhabits everything with the potential for life, whether it is presently dead or alive.

"You can curse the dead or pray for them, but don't expect them to do a thing for you. They're far too interested in watching us, to see what in heaven's name we will do next."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: Orleanna implores us to live for the living, not for the dead. They're only watching, and they can't react to our actions. (OR CAN THEY?)

"Why, Ruth May is no longer with us! It seemed very simple. We were walking along this road, and she wasn't with us."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: Perhaps Leah's in shock, but she gets over Ruth May's death pretty quickly. Or maybe it's because she's been around so much death in her time in the Congo, she knows it's just a part of life.

"I used to threaten Ruth May's life so carelessly just to make her behave. Now I had to face the possibility that we really could lose her."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: Talk about a culture gap. We doubt the Congolese would threaten a child's life to make her behave, because death comes so easily there. Leah, who grew up where a child's death is the exception, doesn't have a problem with it... until Ruth May is on death's door with malaria.

"Two dots an inch apart, as small and tidy as punctuation marks at the end of a sentence none of us could read. The sentence would have started somewhere just above her heart."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: The snake bite is Ruth May's death sentence. No one can read it, because no one knows where it ends ... although, according to Kingsolver, it appears to end up in a tree.

"If I die I will disappear and I know where I'll come back. I'll be right up there in the tree, same color, same everything. I will look down on you. But you won't see me."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: This Congolese "superstition" isn't much different than the idea of a Christian heaven. Ruth May believes she'll end up above (in a tree instead of the sky, but same diff), where she'll be able to watch everyone without being seen. Sounds almost the same to us.

"In our village, believe you me, people die for the slightest provocation so there are not that many old people still hanging around."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: morality Analysis: This attitude toward old age could also be seen as a contrast between American and Congolese attitudes. In America old age is a bad thing—just one more step closer to wrinkliness and death. In the Congo, it's an achievement. Woohoo! You survived childhood!

"Since no one can read, every candidate is designated by a symbol. Wisely these men choose to represent themselves with useful things—knife, bottle, matches, cooking pot."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: politics Analysis: Just because they can't read doesn't mean they're stupid. The Congolese people are able to craft a rudimentary political system using what they know—and how is that any different, really, for waving flags or showing lots of white picket fences in your political ads?

"I have seen preachers at revival meetings speak [...] with voices rising in such a way that heaven and anger get mingled together."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: politics Analysis: Leah observes something that politicians and preachers have in common: charisma. So, what's the difference between politics and religion? To the Kilanga, not much. They think they can vote for Jesus just like they vote for a political leader.

"When a government comes crashing down, it crushes those who were living under its roof."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: politics Analysis: The people making decisions don't care if everything goes to hell in a handbasket—or any other kind of vessel. They're not the ones who have to live paycheck to paycheck making actual baskets by hand. They're the ones with power, money, and safety nets. When their decisions fail, everyone but them suffers.

"Nelson had ridiculed Gbenye's aim by calling him nkento. A woman."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Nelson means well when he defends Leah, but his culture's deep-seated sexism comes through in his unconscious word choice—just like a football coach insulting his players by telling them they throw like girls.

"We Belgians made slaves of them and cut off their hands in the rubber plantations. Now you Americans have them for a slave wage in the mines and let them cut off their own hands. And you, my friend, are stuck with the job of trying to make amends."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: politics Analysis: This big plot dump says a lot about the politics going on behind the scenes. At this point in the narrative, the Price family doesn't know what's going on with the Congo's government, and if they did, they probably wouldn't care.

"The ceiling light was a clear glass bowl half full of [...] dead bugs. I know why. They like to come up to the light because it is so, so pretty like something they want, and then they get trapped in there."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: politics Analysis: This is a pretty deep metaphor about the Congo's motivations for allying with the motivations, and the consequences of the alliance. They want what Americans have—everything—but diving into it headfirst has fatal consequences.

"For a long time I thought Mama was saying [the Jeune Mou-Pro] were the Jimmy Crow, a name I knew from home."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: politics Analysis: Young Ruth May gets a lot of political issues mixed up, confusing the African communist group with America's assortment of racist laws. Could these two groups possibly be different, or do they have anything in common?

"God works, as is very well known, in mysterious ways. There is just nothing you can name that He won't do, now and then."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: As Mark Twain said, "Truth is stranger than fiction." So, does that mean that some of the stranger stories in the Bible—a flood, people turning into salt—could actually be true? Or could be more true than made-up parts?

"We aimed for no more than to have dominion over every creature that moved upon the earth."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: Dominion isn't just an addictive card game. In Genesis, it seems to mean something like "ruling" but also "being responsible for taking care of." (That's a nod to all of you lovely Tree Huggers out there.) Of course, Nathan Price seems to ignore the "taking care of" part and focuses on the ruling instead.

"I added "Baka veh." This means, "We don't pay for that," which is how you say that you don't believe."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: Guess what? We have an almost identical idiom: "We don't buy that," as in: "People landing on the moon? Yeah, I so don't buy that." So, what's the relationship between belief and money?

"There are Christians and then there are Christians."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: Here we go: this is probably the main point of The Poisonwood Bible when it comes to religion. There are wonderful people who adhere to the good tenets of Christianity: tolerance, patience, charity, world without end, amen. Then there are those that use religion as a means to power.

"Tata Ndu feels that bringing the Christian word to these people is leading them to corrupt ways."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: News flash: Not everyone thinks that Christianity is a shining beacon to a glorious new way of life. Especially when Nathan Price takes the "convert first, ask questions never" method.

"For Father, the Kingdom of the Lord is an uncomplicated place, where tall, handsome boys fight on the side that always wins."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: Note the word "boys." The boys are on the side that always wins. Does that mean that women always lose? Nathan Price sure thinks so.

"My father [...] was bringing the Word of God — which fortunately weighs nothing at all."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: Out of everything the Prices brought to the Congo, where does the Word of God rank on a scale of usefulness? Just asking.

"How did this curse come to me, when it's God's own will to cultivate the soil!"

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: Sure—except by "cultivate," maybe God didn't mean "impose your own will upon." Nathan seems to conveniently forget the parts of the Bible that don't allow him to be a total control freak.

"I wonder that religion can live or die on the strength of a faint, stirring breeze. [...] One god draws in the breath of life and rises; another god expires."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: The way Leah sees it, religion is a zero-sum game: if one comes to life, another dies. There's no such thing as syncretism.

"[The Bible is] God's word, brought to you by a crew of romantic idealists in a harsh desert culture eons ago, followed by a chain of translators two thousand years ago."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: religion Analysis: This is important, and goes in line with Adah's discussion of mistranslated Bibles at the end of Book Six. In her view, the Bible isn't God's word straight to our ears but more like a game of telephone that's lasted for centuries.

"I'm fifteen and must think about maturing into a Christian lady."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: women and femininity Analysis: By "Christian lady" Leah really means "American gender norms," like not climbing trees or playing in the dirt. (Um, there's an age limit on that?)

"It troubled Leah that people thought our household deficient [...] because we lacked a bákala mpandi—a strong man—to oversee us."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Even in Kilanga, where the women seem to do all the work, the villagers still look down on the Prices for not having a strong man. When Leah steps up to the duties, they disparage her for it.

"Rachel would have to have the circus mission where they cut her so she wouldn't want to run around with people's husbands."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Kingsolver doesn't make a huge issue about female genital mutilation in the Congo, only mentioning it in this one chapter. But plenty of people do make a huge issue of it, and you can learn more about it here.

"Congolese men didn't treat their own wives and daughters as if they were very sensible or important. Though as far as I could see the wives and daughters did just about all the work."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Sounds a lot like the Price household to us. With so much in common with the Congolese men, we're surprised Nathan doesn't get along with them better.

"Climbing trees is for boys and monkeys."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: women and femininity Analysis: The doctor in Stanleyville might be politically progressive, but gender equality, um, not so much. (Also, equating boys to monkeys is pretty fifth-grade of him.)

"I detest the part [of the Bible] where Lot offered his own virgin daughters to the rabble of sinners. [...] What kind of a trade is that? And his poor wife, of course, got turned to a pillar of salt."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: women and femininity Analysis: We'd never call Rachel Price a feminist, but at least she's not too ditzy to see the unequal way that the women of the Bible are sometimes treated.

"With no men around, everyone was surprisingly lighthearted."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: women and femininity Analysis: When they leave the village of Kilanga, the Price women are living a life without a man—their father—for the very first time. And it's AWESOME. It's like a huge burden has been lifted from their shoulders.

"Sending a girl to college is like pouring water in your shoes. [...] It's hard to say which is worse, seeing it run out and waste the water, or seeing it hold in and wreck the shoes."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: women and femininity Analysis: Yikes. This is some pretty nasty sexism coming from Nathan Price, the father of four girls. Why the bad attitude? Does he feel threatened by them? And what would he say to women attending graduate schools?

"We'd never call Rachel Price a feminist, but at least she's not too ditzy to see the unequal way that the women of the Bible are sometimes treated."

Work: The Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Theme: women and femininity Analysis:Forgiving Rachel's malapropism here ("horse," not "course"), she makes a keen observation about gender norms in Kilanga: they're not that different from gender norms in the not-too-distant past of American culture. (Fun fact: now it's about the opposite. Women can almost wear whatever they want—pants, skirts, overalls, rompers—while men are stuck to a diverse wardrobe of ... pants or shorts.)