The Return of the Native Pride Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

What a humiliating victory! He loved her best, she thought; and yet [...] what was the man worth whom a woman inferior to herself did not value? (1.11.67)

Themes of pride and social awareness are linked together here through Eustacia. She cares more about the fact that a "lesser" woman rejected Damon than the fact that Damon "loved her best."

Quote #8

The unreasonable nimbus of romance with which she had encircled that man might be her misery. How could she allow herself to become so infatuated with a stranger? (2.6.75)

Eustacia might be arrogant and prideful, but the flip side of those traits is that she can be pretty harsh with herself, as we see here. She even characterizes her feelings for Clym in negative terms, such as "infatuation."

Quote #9

To lose the two women – he who had been the well-beloved of both – was too ironical an issue to be endured. (2.7.90)

Only Damon could bust out with something this hilariously arrogant.