Flora and Ulysses Language and Communication Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

At the beginning of summer, in a moment of weakness, Flora had made the mistake of signing a contract that said she would "work to turn her face away from the idiotic high jinks of comics and toward the bright light of true literature." (1.5)

What's so bad about comic books? According to Flora's mom, everything. Flora's mom sees comic books as the cause of her daughter's problems, and we can't help but wonder if some of her frustration with them comes from the fact that they are not anything like what she writes herself.

Quote #2

There is just no predicting what kind of sentences you might say, thought Flora. For instance, who would ever think you would shout, "You're going to vacuum up that squirrel!"? (1.25)

We're not sure if we'd be analyzing our sentences if we just saw a squirrel get vacuumed up, but this just goes to show just how important words and language are to Flora. Even in times of stress, it's what she thinks about.

Quote #3

Flora had decided that this was part of the reason her parents had divorced. Not the noise of the writing, but the writing itself. Specifically, the writing of romance. (10.2)

Hmm… ironic, right? It's crazy that romance writing could lead to a divorce, but the fact that Flora even thinks this tells us a lot about the weight of words in her life (not to mention romance).