How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"You couldn't hire her to divorce me, no, nor desert me. She's too fond of her three squares and a few pounds a nut-center chocolates in between." (5.3.39)
Paul Riesling knows that he has no chance of ever getting a divorce from his wife Zilla. It's not like Zilla even loves him that much. It's that she loves the lifestyle that Paul is able to provide for her with all his hard work. According to Paul, that is.
Quote #5
"But rats, you know what Zilla is. How she nags—nags—nags. How she wants everything I can buy her, and a lot that I can't, and how absolutely unreasonable she is." (5.3.41)
Paul honestly doesn't now what he's going to do. He knows that he's trapped in his marriage with Zilla, but at the same time, he knows that he'll never be able to survive the rest of his life without getting away from her. This puts Paul between a rock and a hard place, and it seems that the only way he can see out of it is to murder Zilla.
Quote #6
"If a man is bored by his wife, do you seriously mean he has a right to chuck her and take a sneak, or even kill himself?" (5.3.53)
Babbitt quickly becomes uncomfortable when Paul muses about killing himself in order to get away from his wife Zilla. Even though he wants to be supportive, Babbitt can't just sit back and let Paul say these things. He reminds Paul that he has a social responsibility to play the hand he's dealt and to keep pushing on, no matter how tough life gets.