How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Between her tears she talked herself into silence. I could do nothing; I was adrift in a strange sea; my hands on the metal-spun threads of her tunic were cold and stiff, my eyes dry; I was as far from her in spirit, as she clung to me in the darkness, as when years ago I had lit her cigarette on the way from the station; as far as when she was out of mind, in the dry, empty years at the Old Rectory and in the jungle. (2.3.119)
Just as religion was the barrier between Charles and Sebastian, so it is here between him and Julia – not because he resents her for her beliefs, but because he simply cannot understand them.
Quote #8
"There were four of you," I said. "Cara didn't know the first thing it was about, and may or may not have believed it; you knew a bit and didn't believe a word; Cordelia knew about as much and believed it madly; only poor Bridey knew and believed, and I thought he made a pretty poor show when it came to explaining. And people go round saying, 'At least Catholics know what they believe.' We had a fair cross-section to-night–"
"Oh, Charles, don't rant. I shall begin to think you're getting doubts yourself." (2.5.161-2)
Actually, Julia is right – Charles is beginning to doubt his own doubt. We know that he has found God by the end of the novel, so this is the first inkling of his eventual conversion.
Quote #9
"That is what it would mean; starting a life with you, without Him. […] But I saw to-day there was one thing unforgivable – like things in the schoolroom, so bad they are unpunishable, that only Mummy could deal with – the bad thing I was on the point of doing, that I'm not quite bad enough to do; to set up a rival good to God's. […] It may be a private bargain between me and God, that if I give up this one thing I want so much, however bad I am, He won't quite despair of me in the end." (2.5.247)
Is this really Julia’s reason for leaving Charles? Or is she justifying? Are the barriers she faces religious, or simply social taboos?