How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"What are you doing in New York on a Saturday?" she asks.
"Evan and I are staying in town this weekend," he says. "He's feeling so much better on this new cocktail, he says he wants to go dancing tonight."
"Isn't that a little much?"
"I'll keep an eye on him. I won't let him overdo it. He just wants to be out in the world again." (1.12-15)
Walter Hardy is another one of the novel's characters who have been taking care of loved ones living with AIDS. Walter and his partner, Evan, have been more fortunate than Richard Brown. Unlike Richard, Evan is still healthy enough to benefit from new medications that are being developed.
Quote #5
She is aware of her reflected movements in the glass but does not permit herself to look. The mirror is dangerous; it sometimes shows her the dark manifestation of air that matches her body, takes her form, but stands behind, watching her, with porcine eyes and wet, hushed breathing. (2.5)
The manifestations of Virginia Woolf's illness terrify her, and with good reason. Who wouldn't freak out if they saw a shadowy, pig-eyed version of themselves lurking in the mirror?
Quote #6
She should be standing before the stove in her new robe, full of simple, encouraging talk. Still, when she opened her eyes a few minutes ago (after seven already!)—when she still half inhabited her dream, some sort of pulsating machinery in the remote distance, a steady pounding like a gigantic mechanical heart, which seemed to be drawing nearer—she felt the dank sensation around her, the nowhere feeling, and knew it was going to be a difficult day. (3.4)
Laura Brown's struggles with depression forge a connection between her, Virginia Woolf, and the adult Richard Brown. All three of them live with some form of illness or suffering that makes it difficult for them to get through each day.