How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Mourning," said the King, "is meant to show the grief inside us. Dancing dishonors your mother's memory. It is badly done, Azalea! As future queen, you should know better! Badly done!" (5.57)
As future queen, Azalea has a duty to represent the kingdom honorably, and it seems like she's failing in this respect by not respecting the rules of mourning. But then, by dancing, she was acting on her duty to look out for her younger sisters, because dancing cheers them up and reminds them of their mom. So which duty comes first?
Quote #5
"Why would they send invitations?" said Eve, always so logical. "We're in mourning."
"It's impolite not to," said Azalea. "When Mother was ill, we still received invitations, though they knew she couldn't go." (12.33-34)
Apparently in these elite social circles, everyone's obligated to do the polite thing all the time, even when practically speaking, they know that their invitations won't be accepted. Do these people know how much paper they're wasting?
Quote #6
"It's not a matter of wanting to or not," said Fairweller, who appeared more annoyed by the minute. "Or even what party you will run for. It is more a matter of duty. I find it odd you are shying away from this." (13.57)
Here Fairweller is practically lecturing Mr. Bradford on his duty to run for parliament. Maybe because his dad served parliament in the past, or maybe because Mr. Bradford is educated and intelligent and thus seems like a good fit… but the bottom line is, Fairweller views this as a way to serve one's country, and a duty like that should be embraced, not run from.