How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Why have you come to see me, then?" I replied. "Go to that gentleman and ask him how things stand.' I began to suspect that between the Reader and Ludmilla there was a bond, and this was enough to make my voice take on a hostile tone." (15.157)
Now it's Silas Flannery's turn to feel jealous over Ludmilla. Receiving a visit from you, the Reader, Flannery isn't psyched about the interest you've taken in Ludmilla. Like you, Flannery is dealing with an intense and deep-rooted dissatisfaction, and he wants to use Ludmilla as a way to fill the void in his life. Note to Shmoopers: it ain't gonna work.
Quote #8
[Y]ou savor the certainty, confirmed by the omniscient Director, that between [Ludmilla] and you there no longer exist obstacles or mysteries, whereas of [Marana], your rival, only a pathetic shadow remains, more and more distant. (19.25)
Finally, some relief from your jealousy toward Ermes Marana. You've learned from the Porphyrich that Marana has admitted his defeat, saying that for all of his attempts to intentionally create confusion in reading, "'something happens over which [he has] no power'" (19.18). It's kind of like the final battle in No Country for Old Men, because you never really get to see the showdown take place. Come to think of it, you've never really laid eyes on Marana in this entire book. Marana might as well be a total figment of your jealous imagination.
In this passage, you lose your sense of jealousy as soon as you feel that "between [Ludmilla] and you there no longer exist obstacles or mysteries." Hmm. Does that mean that, as a reader, you've come to understand and identify with Ludmilla's open-minded approach to pleasure in reading? All along, your jealousy might have been the product of a frustrated, normal approach to stories—whether it's the stories you've been reading or the one you've been imagining for yourself with Ludmilla.
Quote #9
It was not until this moment that I thought of Brigid; in a flash I saw Ponko and Brigid, who would dance together on the Feast of Saint Thaddeus, Brigid who would mend Ponko's woolen gloves, Ponko who would give Brigid a marten captured with my trap. (4.7)
Gritzvi, the young narrator of Outside the town of Malbork, goes to his bedroom and encounters Ponko, the young man who is about to take Gritzvi's place in his own home. Up until this moment, the story doesn't give you much of a sense of the antagonism between the two young men, but as soon as the lady folk become involved, flames of jealousy start burning. And sure enough, it leads to a throw-down.