How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
'Let's get you in the car,' Patch said. He pulled me up, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face into him.
'I think I'm going to be sick,' I said. The world tilted, including Patch. 'I need my iron pills.'
'Shh,' he said, holding me against him. 'It's going to be all right. I'm here now.' (21.73-75)
Nora has just seen a woman lying dead in the street, so of course she's upset. We'd even go so far as to say it's even a good thing that she's upset. At the same time, Nora is a totally incapacitated mess, so much so that she claims to be in need of medication. It's almost a throwback to the days when women were presented as having frequent fainting spells. Get this girl some smelly salts, stat.
Quote #8
I could smell the fear on my breath. 'Where's Vee?'
He slapped my cheek. 'Don't change the subject. You really should learn to control your fear. Fear undermines logic and opens up all sorts of opportunities for people like me.' (28.33-34)
It's the old women-need-to-learn-to-control-their-emotions shtick. In this exchange, Jules even slaps Nora as if to break her from her hysteria. There are other moments in the book where female characters are driven strongly by emotion. Dabria's wild attack of jealousy comes to mind. Are there any examples where male characters seem to act on emotion? Do the ways female and male characters deal with emotions seem to be different?
Quote #9
'Do you want to know the best part? You could have blocked me out. I couldn't have touched your mind without your permission. I reached in, and you never resisted. You were weak. You were easy.' (28.80)
This quote is a very blunt and very troubling explanation of Jules's ability to enter Nora's mind and control her thoughts. The terms "weak" and "easy" are really pejorative terms for women these days, and they feed into the women-as-sex-objects mentality. However, we know by this point that Jules is the villain, so aligning this view of women with an extremely negative and evil character also suggests that the view itself is entirely bad.