How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I love you better. I always have. This may be a bad thing to tell you, but it's true. I love you better. Else why would I have given myself the trouble of hurting you?" (3.3.31)
Whoa—slow down. Didn't Cyrus just finish telling Adam all the things that are wrong with him? Also, what's up with the parental favoritism? Maybe Cyrus just likes a challenge. After all, what fun is a kid who just does everything you say and is perfect? Or maybe, like in Adam and Aron's case, it's something as simple as the fact that Aron looks like Cathy, in which case favoritism is arbitrary and completely beyond our control. What do you think?
Quote #2
"He liked everything you brought him. He didn't like me. He didn't like anything I gave him. Remember the present I gave him, the pocketknife? I cut and sold a load of wood to get that knife. Well, he didn't even take it to Washington with him. It's right in his bureau right now. And you gave him a pup. It didn't cost you a thing. Well, I'll show you a picture of that pup. It was at his funeral." (7.3.53)
We would definitely take a puppy over a pocketknife. Just sayin'… Poor Charles, try as he might, can't seem to do anything right to please Cyrus, and the fact that Adam doesn't have to even try is just salt in the wound. No wonder Charles resents Adam.
Quote #3
Adam knew that his brother was no longer dangerous. There was no jealousy to drive him. The whole weight of his father was on him, but it was his father and no one could take his father away from him. (7.3.166)
Earlier it sounded like Charles picked on Adam because he saw him as an obstacle, but once Cyrus is pushing up daisies, there really isn't a whole lot that Charles can do about his dad's feelings. This passage shows that Charles's anger was always directed more toward his father than it was to Adam.