How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
"…I thought, "Well I never thought Louise good look like that!" Why, she'd have knocked anybody's eye out."
"Oh, really?" she said. "Funny. Of course, everybody thought her dress and hat were lovely, but a lot of people seemed to think she looked sort of tired. People have been saying that a lot lately…" (30-31)
The wife's comment about Louise looking "tired" is really a defensive reaction to the husband's praise. What she's really saying is that she doesn't want her husband to think that Louise is better looking than her.
Quote #2
"It's too bad," she said, "you didn't marry somebody that would get the kind of hats you'd like. Hats that cost three ninety-five. Why didn't you marry Louise? You always think she looks so beautiful. You'd love her taste in hats. Why didn't you marry her?" (53)
The Louise thing is still gnawing on the wife, and the hat argument is really a way of returning to this unresolved issue. The wife still feels insecure, unsure of what her husband's attitude is toward her now that they're married. So, she's testing that out, in a (nasty) way.
Quote #3
"Why didn't you marry her?" she said. "All you've done, ever since we got on this train, is talk about her. Here I've sat and sat, and just listened to you saying how wonderful Louise is. I suppose that's nice, getting me all off here alone with you, and then raving about Louise right in front of my face. Why didn't you ask her to marry you? I'm sure she would have jumped at the chance. There aren't so many people asking her to marry them. It's too bad you didn't marry her. I'm sure you'd have been much happier." (55)
This blows up the husband's comments about Louise into a problem of vast proportions. The wife's simmering and perhaps accurate doubts about their marriage end up manifesting in a patently silly way.