The Graduate Isolation and Alienation Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Graduate.

Quote #4

LADY 1: Ben…we're all so proud of you.

LADY 2: Proud, proud, proud, proud, proud.

LADY 3: What are you going to do now?

BENJAMIN: I was going to go upstairs for a minute –

LADY 3: No, I meant with your future.

LADY 2: With your life.

BENJAMIN: Well, that's a little hard to say…

More of the same. All Ben can think of is escape at this point. He can't relate to these people who want him to think about the future. They're expecting great things from him and he feels like he can 't deliver.

Quote #5

[Shot of Ben at the bottom of the pool in his scuba suit.]

Nichols shoots this seem as an ultimate example of isolation. Benjamin can see his parents looking at him but can't hear him. All the party guests are up above. The camera pulls back to show him looking like the little scuba diver at the bottom of the fish tank in his room. The whole scenario is so mortifying and off-putting to him that he calls Mrs. Robinson to begin their affair.

Quote #6

BENJAMIN: Now, you say the driveway's on your side of the house. So I guess you don't sleep in the same room.

MRS. ROBINSON: We don't.

BENJAMIN: So you don't…I mean I don't like to seem like I'm prying but I guess you don't sleep together or anything.

MRS. ROBINSON: No, we don't.

BENJAMIN: Well how long has this been going on?

MRS. ROBINSON: About five years.

Benjamin's not the only one who's feeling isolated and alienated.