Freedom and Confinement Quotes

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Quote #10

And there was a passive congeniality between [Pet and Amy], besides this active one. To both of them, Blandois behaved in exactly the same manner; and to both of them his manner had uniformly something in it, which they both knew to be different from his bearing towards others. The difference was too minute in its expression to be perceived by others, but they knew it to be there. A mere trick of his evil eyes, a mere turn of his smooth white hand, a mere hair's-breadth of addition to the fall of his nose and the rise of the moustache in the most frequent movement of his face, conveyed to both of them, equally, a swagger personal to themselves. It was as if he had said, 'I have a secret power in this quarter. I know what I know.' (2.7.50)

Blandois terrorizes both of these young women. It's interesting that they are imprisoned here by the expectations of politeness. Since Blandois has never actually said anything offensive or done any overt harm to either of them, they're supposed to just smile back and be nice. There doesn't seem to be any space for just not dealing with a menacing or person.