Youth Quotes in The Price of Salt, or Carol

There's a recurring motif of older women putting Therese to sleep because she is young. It's what kids do when they play with dolls.

Carol's paraphrasing a song, but it's still a weird thing for a lover to say to another, although the two aren't lovers yet. Carol seems to be suggesting that Therese needs a mentor so she won't be a child all by herself.

This is an immature attitude, like wanting to cook dinner but not do the dishes—it's indicative of a person who doesn't want to accept the consequences for their actions. This is what Therese does with Richard. She starts a relationship with him, but she doesn't want to clean it up.