How we cite our quotes: (Part.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #7
It then came to me: but is Arnold lying? He could well be lying about Christian. Was he also lying about Rachel? What had passed between Arnold and his wife and would I ever know it for certain? (1.19.79)
Throughout The Black Prince, Bradley Pearson represents Arnold Baffin as being quite capable of lying whenever the situation suits him. In what specific instances is Bradley sure that Arnold is lying to him?
Quote #8
Ever since that day when Arnold telephoned you and you came over, I feel you've been somehow in the dark, not understanding anything, under all sorts of misapprehensions. I daresay my attempts to help you didn't really help at all. And I did want to help you. I know you have strong emotional needs, I know you're a very lonely person, maybe I shouldn't have meddled. But I felt I could meddle simply because my own position was so strong. That I was alright was the assumption I stupidly thought you shared. I mean, I thought you understood how united I am with Arnold and how happy we really are. (3.13.127)
In Bradley Pearson's version of events, Rachel Baffin is just as untrustworthy as her husband, Arnold. Not only is she capable of lying to him, but she may also be capable of deluding herself into believing gross untruths. What's your take on this, Shmoopers? Do you see Rachel as a bold-faced liar or as a deluded person? Or, alternatively, do you tend to trust the things she says?
Quote #9
Of course he turns everything topsy-turvy in his account of his relations with our family. He says rather coyly that we needed him. The truth was that he needed us and was a sort of parasite, an awful nuisance sometimes. He was very lonely and we all felt sorry for him. […] His claim to have 'discovered' my husband is ridiculous [sic]. My husband was already quite famous when BP after much begging, persuaded an editor to let him review one of my husband's books, and after that he made himself known to us and became, as I think my daughter once put it, 'the family pussy cat.' (Postscript by Rachel: par. 7)
If The Black Prince were a work of nonfiction, it wouldn't be all that hard to check the veracity of Rachel Baffin's version of events. All you would have to do is locate the first review that Bradley Pearson ever published of one of Arnold Baffin's novels and check to see whether that review confirms Bradley's version of events or Rachel's. No sweat. Problem is, The Black Prince isn't nonfiction, so we have no way of knowing if it's Bradley or Rachel who's telling the truth.