How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Graduate.
Quote #7
BEN: Now…do you think we could say a few words to each other first this time?
MRS. ROBINSON: If you want.
BEN: Good. I mean are we dead or something?
MRS. ROBINSON: Well I just don't think we have much to say to each other.
BEN: All we ever do is come up here and throw off the clothes and leap into bed together.
This is somewhat of a role reversal—the young man wants to talk; the older, sophisticated woman just wants to get naked. Mrs. Robinson may just want to avoid talking about her unhappy life, but Ben sees sex without a relationship as being "dead" and meaningless. Why do you think he's trying to make more out of it than it is? Doesn't he later tell Mr. Robinson that it wasn't any more personal to him than shaking hands?
Quote #8
BENJAMIN: You have not slept with your husband for five years?
MRS. ROBINSON: Now and then. He gets drunk a few times a year.
BENJAMIN: How many times a year?
MRS. ROBINSON: On New Year's Eve. Sometimes on his birthday.
BENJAMIN: Man, is this interesting.
Mrs. Robinson is clearly unfulfilled, but Ben can't even imagine such a scenario. Even if he's sexually experienced, he's still pretty naïve about what can happen in a marriage.
Quote #9
BEN: Oh no. You had to marry him because you got pregnant?
MRS. ROBINSON: Are you shocked?
BEN: Well I never thought of you and Mr. Robinson as the kind of people who...
It gets even more interesting for Ben. He shows his naïveté even more here. You know, old folks don't get it on. He can't imagine Mr. and Mrs. Robinson as impulsive, lustful young people. Not only that, they did it in the back of a Ford. This is the beginning of a conversation where we see some similarities between Ben and the young Mrs. Robinson.