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P. 87 "And genealogists come up from Boston-get paid by city people for looking up their ancestors. They want to make sure they're
Daughters of the American Revolution and of the Mayflower.... Well, I guess that don't do any harm, either. Wherever you come near the human race, there's layers and layers of nonsense...." |
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Definition
| The stage manager is saying this quote, and he is providing the exposition for the readers. I think this quote is significant because it shows that all people care about is how wealthy or important they are. It shows that they can't just be happy with coming from and living in an ordinary life;they have to promote themselves in their minds to feel important. |
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| p. 88 "And what's left when memory's gone, and your identity, Mrs. Smith?" |
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Definition
| the stage manager is talking to the audience. I think this quote is significant because it's basically stating that the physical things that people who have passed on owned and the importance of the people don't matter. People won't remember your for owning a rare gemstone when you die; they will remember the small part of you that stays with them. When you die, people who knew you well will be blanketed in grief. That grief will pass and will be replaced with your soul. Your soul is the small part of you that is eternal; it is the only part of you that people will remember. This quote is in the circumstances of the stage manager asking an audience member to think about how people will remember her when she dies. |
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| p.93 " Childbirth. I'd forgotten all about that. My, wasn't life awful- and wonderful." |
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| This is said by Mrs. Soames to Mrs. Gibbs, and it is a paradox because the adjectives awful and wonderful are opposites, and it does reveal truth about life. Life is full of opposites and it is a gift to live with that kind of variation. Mrs. Soames is dead, and they are discussing Emily's death. I think this quote is significant because even though something bad occured in your life, that bad event could have made something good occur. For example, Mrs. Soames is talking about childbirth. The pain of delivery is the bad event, but because of the pain, you have a new child, which is the wonderful part. It is true that people wouldn't know the joys of life without experiencing the pains. |
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p. 95 Emily "We bought that out of the money you left us." Mrs. Gibbs "I did?" |
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Definition
| The is said by Mrs. Gibbs to Emily, and the circumstances are Emily is talking about the material objects that the George and her had bought with the money Mrs. Gibbs had left them. Mrs. Gibbs doesn't remember the money that she gave to her son and daughter in-law because it is insignificant. At the beginning of the book, Mrs. Gibbs, (when she was alive) had been fretting over the money, believing it was important. This shows that as living humans, we are in our own little box; we're enclosed from the true meaning of living. Now that Mrs. Gibbs is dead, she understands that money is insignificant; it is the person,(the characteristics of the person) that truly matters. |
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| P. 96 "Live people don't understand, do they?" |
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Definition
| This is a quote said by Emily to Mrs. Gibbs, and the circumstances in which she is saying this quote is the discussion of the farm. Emily has just mentioned that the farm will not be the same to George now that she is gone. Before this, Emily had been gushing over how wonderful the farm was due to the new appliances. Even though the farm might have great appliances, Emily and George enjoyed the farm because they were sharing it together. Living people don't understand that life isn't about having the finest things; it is about sharing your life with a person and living it to its fullest. Living people try their hardest to make themselves important to be happy, but the key to the lock of being happy is living your the way it's supposed to be, ordinary, adn you must seize your life and live it to its fullest extent. |
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| p. 97 "Look! Father Gibbs is bringing some of my flowers to you. He looks just like George, doesn't he? Oh, Mother Gibbs, I never realized before how troubled and how... how in the dark live persons are. Look at him. I loved him so. From morning till night, that's all they are- troubled." |
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Definition
| This quote is said by Emily and is said to Mrs. Gibbs. The circumstances in which she is saying this quote is the conversation that Emily and Mrs. Gibbs are having about the little box humans are shut up in. Once again, this quote is about how live persons are so in the dark, and how they don't understand. People don't understand that to actually live their lives, they must experience all emotions. If you feel grief or sadness, you will always move on. that is what life is all about, experiencing all emotions and living for all of them. |
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| p. 100 "No!- At least, choose an unimportant day. Choos the leas important day in your life. It will be important enough." |
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Definition
| This quote is said by Mrs. Gibbs to Emily. The circumstance in which she is saying this quote is Emily wants to remember a certain day, an important day, but Mrs. Gibbs doesn't want her to remember an important day because it will be painful. Why? Mrs. Gibbs is saying unimportan days are importan. These 2 words are totally contradicting eachother, but are still true. Mrs. Gibbs is trying to point out that every single day in your lif is important. Every day is important because it's apart of the process of living. Everyday you will perform ordinary tasks, but never take those ordinary tasks for granted. People are lucky to be able to get up, wash their hands and sleep; people need to realize that someday, they will not be able to get up or sleep. Everyday is important; it's another chance to grasp life and live it to its full extent. |
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| p. 101 "Oh, that's the town I knew as a little girl. And, look, there's the old white fence that used to be around our house. Oh, I'd forgotten that! Oh, I love it so! Are they inside?" |
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Definition
| This quote is said by Emily to the stage manager, and the circumstance in which she is saying this quote is she is remember her 12th birthday. Here, Emily is getting excited over a very ordinary and unimportant thing. She is bouncing up and down because of the white fence. It's something from everyday life that is ordinary when living, but to Emily(now) it is important after she dies. The fence was apart of everyday when she was living; it was just there. When she was living, she didn't go berserk every time she saw it because she just saw it as a prop in her life. Something that was meant to be there. Now, however, she is dead, and that old fence is apart of her old life, and she no longer gets to see it everyday. Now that she is dead, she really looks at it, and sees that it is indeed very important. This shows how oblivioius living humans are to their surroundings. Once you lose something, you will truly appreciate it. |
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| p. 107 "Oh, Mama, just look at me one minute as though you really saw me. Mama, fourteen years have gone by. I'm dead. You're a grandmother, Mama. I married George Gibbs, Mama. Wally's dead, too. Mama, his appendix burst on a camping trip to North Conway. We felt just terrible about it- don't you remember? But, just for a moment now we're all together. Mama, just for a moment we're happy, Let's look at one another." |
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Definition
| This quote is said by Emily to Mrs. Webb. Emily is remembering her 12th birthday, and nobody is seeing her. The reason this is so painful for Emily is the fact that she knows what's going to happen in the future. She knows that she is going to die. She sees herself and the rest of her family rushing throughout their lives, and not stopping to appreciate the fact that they are all her and all living. Emily is seeing that we rush through life without ever stopping and taking the chance to appreciate eachother. She knows that she is going to die, and she just wants her whold family to stop and just appreciate eacother. this quote reveals that we are bumble bees that just can't stop and look around at out surroundings and appreciate it. We go through life without thinking about how lucky we are; we think that we will have time to appreciate life as a whole when we get older, but then your life is gone all of a sudden. |
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| p. 108 "Good-by, Good-by, world. Good-by, Grover's Corners... Mama and Papa. Good-by to clocks ticking... and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths... and sleeping and wakint up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?- every, every minute? |
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Definition
| This is said by Emily to the stage manager.Emily has realized that she cannot endure the pain of seeing her rushed life before her eyes, so she is giving up her old life. After all the good-by's of people, she says good-by to the most ordinary of ordinary things. I think she is doing this because that box over her mind has been lifted and exposed to the fact that every single thing in peoples' lives are important. No matter how small, everything is significant. My favorite part of this quote is when she addresses the earth. The earth is too wonderful for anybody to realize it. We all rush through life without stopping to look around at our surroundings and let it sink in. We must let the fact that the world is not something that is just there; it is a gift that we must appreciate. |
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