How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Quote #4
JOEL: Why am I... I don't understand what I'm looking at. Why am I standing here and—
This is Joel's awakening. Well, he's still asleep but you know what we mean: he finally realizes that he's inside his own mind when he sees himself sitting in a chair. Just as Joel is literally looking at himself in this scene, the whole memory sequence is basically one big self-examination, with Joel exploring all of the avenues of his mind, getting acquainted with who he is in a way he probably never expected.
Quote #5
CLEMENTINE: I didn't kill anybody! It's just a f***ing dent, Joel. You're like an old lady or something.
JOEL: Well, what are you like… a wino?
CLEMENTINE: A wino? Jesus, are you from the '50s or something? A wino? Face it, Joely. You're freaked out because I was out late without you, and in your little wormy brain you're trying to figure out, "Did she f*** someone tonight?"
In this fight, Joel and Clem throw names at each other like children, playing on their identities. Joel is boring and always worried like an old lady, while Clem…likes to drink wine? That's probably what wino means, but we're not, like, from the '50s or something.
Quote #6
PATRICK: Baby, what's going on?
CLEMENTINE: I don't know. I don't know! I'm lost. I'm scared. I feel like I'm disappearing.
PATRICK: Disappearing?
CLEMENTINE: My skin's coming off! I'm getting old! Nothing makes any sense to me!
PATRICK: You're not getting old.
CLEMENTINE: Nothing makes any sense. Nothing makes any sense.
Clem is lost and scared because she's in the middle of an identity crisis—and not an angst-y teen one or a mid-life one. She's had a real loss of identity, and she doesn't know who she is. She feels older because she really is older than she believes, having had so much time with Joel stripped from her memory. Of course, what Clem is experiencing parallels what Joel is experiencing in his memory. And in Joel's memory, Clem is literally disappearing.