How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Scene.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a big long monologue.
Quote #16
"Lots of fellows meet girls whom they don’t marry!"
"Oh, talk sensibly, Tom—and don’t be sarcastic!" (5.82, 5.83).
Amanda uses older and more traditional ideas on dating and marriage, in contrast to Tom.
Quote #17
"That is the way such things are handled to keep a young woman from making a tragic mistake!"
"Then how did you happen to make a tragic mistake?"
"That innocent look of your father’s has everyone fooled! He smiled—the world was enchanted! No girl can do worse than put herself at the mercy of a handsome appearance! I hope that Mr. O’Connor is not too good-looking." (5.101-5.103).
Amanda has very specific requirements for Laura’s potential husband, many of them deriving from the quirks of her own marriage.
Quote #18
"All of my gentlemen callers were sons of planters and so of course I assumed that I would be married to one and raise my family on a large piece of lad with plenty of servants. But man proposes—and woman accepts the proposal! To vary that old, old saying a little bit—I married no planter! I married a man who worked for a telephone company! That gallantly smiling man over there! A telephone man who—fell in love with long distance! Now he travels and I don’t even know where!" (6.139, Amanda).
Even in the presence of guests, Amanda can not stop from discussing her absent husband.