How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Kramer vs. Kramer.
Quote #7
BILLY: Daddy, are you going away?
TED: No, I'm staying right here with you. You're not gonna get rid of me that easy.
BILLY: That's why Mommy left, isn't it? 'Cause I was bad?
TED: Is that what you think?
Billy shakes his head "yes."TED: No. No, that's not it, Billy. Your mom loves you very much. The reason she left doesn't have anything to do with you. I don't know whether this is going to make any sense, but I'll try to explain it to you, okay? I think the reason why Mommy left was because, for a long time now, I kept trying to make her be a certain kind of person, Billy, a certain kind of wife that I thought she was supposed to be, and she just wasn't like that. She was—she just wasn't like that. And now that I think about it, I think that she tried for so long to make me happy, and when she couldn't, she tried to talk to me about it, see? But I wasn't listening because I was too busy; I was too wrapped up just thinking about myself, and I thought that any time I was happy, that meant that she was happy, but I think underneath she was very sad. Mommy stayed here longer than she wanted to, I think, because she loves you so much, and the reason why Mommy couldn't stay anymore was because she couldn't stand me, Billy. She didn't leave because of you. She left because of me.
This is one of the rare glimpses we get at this whole maelstrom of family drama from Billy's perspective. Little kids often blame themselves for their parents' divorce, or alcoholism, or anger, or whatever. Ted uses this speech to make it clear to Billy that Joanna didn't abandon Billy, she abandoned Ted. Ted lays the blame pretty squarely on himself.
Quote #8
JOANNA: During the last five years of our marriage, I was becoming more and more unhappy, more and more troubled, and I really needed somebody to help me, but when I turned to Ted, he just wasn't there for me, so we became more and more isolated from one another, more and more separate. He was very involved in his career, and because of his attitude towards my fears and his inability to deal with my feelings, I had come to have almost no self-esteem. I was scared, and I was very unhappy, and in my mind, I had no other choice but to leave. At the time I left, I felt that there was something terribly wrong with me, and that my son would be better off without me. And it was only after I got to California that I realized, after getting into therapy, that I wasn't such a terrible person, and just because I needed some kind of creative or emotional outlet other than my child, that didn't make me unfit to be a mother.
Hmm. What do you think: Was Billy really better off without her?
Quote #9
BILLY: You're not gonna kiss me goodnight anymore, are you, Dad?
TED: No, I won't be able to do that, but, you know, I get to visit. It's gonna be okay. Really.
BILLY: (crying) If I don't like it, can I come home?
Billy's been put through the wringer thanks to his parents. Mom leaves. Dad's a butt. Dad gets his act together. Mom comes back. Dad sends him to live with Mom against his will. Where are his bed or toys going to be? Who's going to read him bedtime stories? We feel your pain, Billy. Those are important things. Let's go out for all the ice cream, okay?