How we cite our quotes:
Quote #1
All she had to do, wrote Henry, was "lay back and be pleasured." But she [...] had gone outside the home to seek her "pleasuring," while still expecting him to foot the bills. (1.1.29)
Yeah, we're sure that it's all this simple, right? Doubtful. We're just saying that the kind of dude who murders his wife after learning of her affair and then turns her dead body into a freak-show act probably wasn't the best husband. We're not marriage counselors or anything, so let's just call it Shmooper's Intuition.
Quote #2
Like Meridian, Anne-Marion was a deviate in the honors house: there because of her brilliance but only tolerated because it was clear she was one, too, on whom true Ladyhood would never be conferred. (1.3.9)
There aren't many other girls like Meridian and Anne-Marion at Saxon College. Most of the female students are shooting to earn a degree in "Finding a Husband," not trying to better themselves through an education. After all, why would you need book-smarts when you can just marry a rich guy? It's difficult to blame the individual girls, though—they're part of a bigger system that they're unable to fully understand.
Quote #3
She noticed that other girls were falling in love, getting married. It seemed to produce a state of euphoria in them. (1.4.3)
During her early adulthood, Meridian's mom falls in love with the feeling of freedom. Despite this, she becomes intrigued by the lives of married women and ends up walking down that path herself. The result? She ends up resenting her kids a lot for taking that precious freedom away.