How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"That would be a capital match for Adam. He would slip into old Burge's shoes and make a fine thing of that building business, I'll answer for him. I should like to see him well settled in this parish; he would be ready then to act as my grand-vizier when I wanted one. We could plan no end of repairs and improvements together. I've never seen the girl, though, I think—at least I've never looked at her." (9.10)
Arthur is confident that Adam will do a fine job once he rises through his profession. (Really, does anybody in Adam Bede doubt Adam? Do you?) And even though the two men will never stand on the same level socially, there is a strong possibility that they will be collaborators. This possibility excites Arthur himself.
Quote #5
"Well, Mother, I hope thee wilt have her for a daughter; for Seth's got a liking for her, and I hope she'll get a liking for Seth in time."
"Where's th' use o' talkin' a-that'n? She caresna for Seth. She's goin' away twenty mile aff. How's she to get a likin' for him, I'd like to know? No more nor the cake 'ull come wi'out the leaven. Thy figurin' books might ha' tould thee better nor that, I should think, else thee mightst as well read the commin print, as Seth allays does."
"Nay, Mother," said Adam, laughing, "the figures tell us a fine deal, and we couldn't go far without 'em, but they don't tell us about folks's feelings. It's a nicer job to calculate THEM. But Seth's as good-hearted a lad as ever handled a tool, and plenty o' sense, and good-looking too; and he's got the same way o' thinking as Dinah. He deserves to win her, though there's no denying she's a rare bit o' workmanship. You don't see such women turned off the wheel every day." (14.3-5)
Here, Adam and his mother offer differing opinions about Seth's romantic prospects. For Adam, Seth and Dinah seem like a logical pair, and Seth seems fully deserving of such happiness. But Lisbeth disregards this reasoning for one major reason—because Dinah's affections lie elsewhere. Huh. Sounds like ol' Lisbeth has a point.
Quote #6
No sooner had this little plan shaped itself in his mind than he began to be busy with exact calculations about the wood to be bought and the particular article of furniture that should be undertaken first—a kitchen cupboard of his own contrivance, with such an ingenious arrangement of sliding-doors and bolts, such convenient nooks for stowing household provender, and such a symmetrical result to the eye, that every good housewife would be in raptures with it, and fall through all the gradations of melancholy longing till her husband promised to buy it for her. Adam pictured to himself Mrs. Poyser examining it with her keen eye and trying in vain to find out a deficiency; and, of course, close to Mrs. Poyser stood Hetty, and Adam was again beguiled from calculations and contrivances into dreams and hopes. Yes, he would go and see her this evening—it was so long since he had been at the Hall Farm. He would have liked to go to the night-school, to see why Bartle Massey had not been at church yesterday, for he feared his old friend was ill; but, unless he could manage both visits, this last must be put off till to-morrow—the desire to be near Hetty and to speak to her again was too strong. (19.7)
As befits a man of facts and figures, Adam has hopes and dreams that are highly concrete. His specifically developed plans are accompanied by visions of the specific scenes that will occur if his ambitions are fulfilled. This is a man who'd only build a castle in the air if he had a blueprint. Though how would that work, exactly?