How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Quote #1
JOEL: Why do I fall in love with every woman I see... who shows me the least bit of attention?
Clem waves at Joel at the train stop, and when he moves, she leans backward and waves again, overtly poking fun at his shyness. They are both immediately drawn to the other, though they don't know why. Is it possible that the Lacuna procedure didn't work? Is there still some sliver of emotional core left over, meaning that Clem's and Joel's memories are a foundation of their attraction the second time around? Or is it possible that there's something else bringing them together?
Quote #2
CLEMENTINE: No jokes about my name. Oh, no, you wouldn't do that. You're trying to be nice.
JOEL: I don't know any jokes about your name.
CLEMENTINE: Huckleberry Hound.
JOEL: I don't know what that means.
CLEMENTINE: Huckleberry Hound? What are you, nuts?
JOEL: It's been suggested.
CLEMENTINE: Oh, my darlin', oh, my darlin'
Oh, my darlin' Clementine
You were lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry Clementine.
No?
At first this scene doesn't mean a whole lot. It's weird that Joel doesn't know the song, but we don't think much of it until the second time it happens. He and Clementine are sitting on the beach, and she tells him the same thing, after which he sings her the song. We realize that the only reason Joel doesn't remember the song that it was associated with Clem and therefore erased from his memory. Erasing the memory of Clementine therefore erased parts of Joel he may not have counted on erasing. This incident also shows us that because of the procedure, Joel and Clementine's their second relationship cannot be the same as their first.
Quote #3
Joel sees Clem at Barnes & Noble. She doesn't recognize him and is talking to another man. Joel walks, confused and upset, out of the library and into Rob and Carrie's house.
This is the first time we notice something is off. Rob and Carrie surely don't have a house that's literally attached to a Barnes & Noble, so maybe it's just clever cinematography. But why do all the lights turn off in the Barnes & Noble when Joel is walking out? At the moment, it just seems strange, but soon we realize that we are in Joel's mind, and everything that falls outside the domain of his memories does not exist. In other words, when he leaves Barnes & Noble, there is no Barnes & Noble anymore, and Joel probably doesn't have an explicit memory of the drive to Rob and Carrie's, either.