How we cite our quotes: (Name of Play, Act #)
Quote #4
CHRISTINE: I know you, Vinnie! I've watched you ever since you were little, trying to do exactly what you're doing now! You've tried to become the wife of your father and the mother of Orin! You've always wanted to steal my place! (Homecoming Act 2)
And there it is, the Electra complex in a nutshell: the daughter wishing to replace her mother in daddy's affections. It's all over O'Neill's play.
Quote #5
BRANT: Does Orin by any chance resemble his father?
CHRISTINE: No! Of course not! What put that stupid idea into your head?
BRANT: It would be damned queer if you fell in love with me because I recalled Ezra Mannon to you!
CHRISTINE: No, no, I tell you! It was Orin you made me think of! It was Orin!
BRANT: I remember that night we were introduced and I heard the name Mrs. Ezra Mannon. By God, how I hated you then for being his! I thought, by God, I'll take her from him and that'll be a part of my revenge. And out of that hatred my love came! It's damned queer isn't it? (Homecoming Act 2)
So, she's with him because he looks like her son—and that's OK, as long as Brant doesn't resemble her husband? And he's with her because he hated her the first time he saw her? Their chances don't seem promising.
Quote #6
CHRISTINE: Orin is dead, isn't he?
LAVINIA: Don't say that! It isn't true, is it, Father?
MANNON: Of course it isn't. If your mother would permit me to finish instead of jumping at conclusions about her baby—! He's no baby now. I've made a man of him. He did one of the bravest things I've seen in the war. He was wounded in the head—a close shave but it turned out only a scratch […] He's alright now. He was in rundown condition, they say at the hospital […]
CHRISTINE: When will he be well enough to come home?
MANNON: Soon. The doctor advised a few more days' rest. He's still weak. He was out of his head for a long time. Acted as if he were a little boy again. Seemed to think you were with him. That is, he kept talking to "Mother."
CHRISTINE: Ah!
Just how would you read that little sound coming out of Christine? Is she worried? Is she somehow happy that all Orin can do is think about "Mommy?" This is an early indication of the bizarre relationship between Orin and Christine.