How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #16
Joe: "AND THEN YOU'LL COME BACK TO ME!" (3.4.68).
Joe gets a taste of abandonment when Louis leaves him on the beach, saying that he needs to see Prior again. Now Joe is in the same position as his wife – he's been deserted by someone he loves.
Quote #17
Belize: "You walk out on your lover. Days don't pass before you are out on the town with someone new" (4.3.14).
To Belize, Louis' abandonment of Prior is made worse by the fact that he hooked up with Joe so soon after. Does this show that Louis is totally heartless, or that he missed Prior so much that he couldn't face being alone?
Quote #18
Prior: "If [God] ever did come back, if He ever dared to show His face, or his Glyph or whatever in the Garden again... if after all this destruction, if after all the terrible days of this terrible century, He returned to see... how much suffering His abandonment had created, if all He has to offer is death, you should sue the bastard. [...] Sue the bastard for walking out. How dare He" (5.4.47).
Prior advises the angels not to take God's abandonment lying down. Instead of meekly accepting the fact that the Almighty left the universe behind, Prior demands that they hold Him accountable. This moment connects with a lot of the themes of justice and judgment from Millennium Approaches. Much like when Louis deserted him, Prior demands that there be some sort of universal system of justice that punishes those who abandon others, even if the abandoner is the one who created the universe to begin with.