How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Kramer vs. Kramer.
Quote #7
TED: You proud of me?
BILLY: Yeah. How'd you get this job?
TED: I told them I wanted it.
It's hard to picture Joanna saying this, isn't it? A man pulling off what Ted did— demanding that Spencer and Ackerman decide whether to give him the job on the spot—is aggressive and bold. A woman doing the same thing might be just as easily regarded as pushy and another word that starts with "b" that isn't "bold."
Quote #8
SHAUNESSY: Motherhood. They're going right for the throat.
Shaunessy's trepidation reflects society's prevailing attitude toward the role of fathers at the time—namely that, outside of extreme circumstances, they're second-rate parents.
Quote #9
JOANNA: 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.
Hopefully, the fact that Joanna was expected to be a wife and a mom—and only a wife and a mom—seems ludicrous to you now in the 21st century.