How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Then she saw, as she had thought she might at this precise hour, her brother-in-law Derek, her furtive lover Derek, brief-case under his arm, talking animatedly with a flash of rings to a foppish colleague, making point after point on unfolding flashing fingers. Seeing the superb mime of orthodox homosexual behaviour (secondary or social aspects) she could not quell entirely the spark of contempt that arose in her loins. (1.5.8)
References to loins are usually hilarious, but this one is just odd. Why should Beatrice-Joanna's lady parts react with "contempt" for Derek's performance? What does it say about Beatrice-Joanna—and about the narrative voice's representation of women more generally—that her body has so many "instinctive" reactions like this?
Quote #5
'A kind of aura of fertility surrounds you, Brother Foxe. Anyway, as far as this post of departmental head is concerned, it's pretty evident that, all things being equal, the Board will want to appoint a candidate with a cleaner family wreckerd.' [. . .] 'Let's see. Let's look at the other candidates. Joscelyne leaned forward, elbows on the desk, and began to tick them off on his fingers. 'Wiltshire's homo. Cruttenden's unmarried. Cowell's married with one kid, so he's out. Crum-Ewing's gone the whole hog, he's a castrato, a pretty strong candidate. Fiddian's just nothing. Ralph's homo—' (1.8.13)
Even today, more than fifty years after The Wanting Seed was first published, LGBTQ persons still experience this kind of discrimination in their workplaces. Is there any way in which The Wanting Seed could be read as a satirical critique of homophobic discrimination?
Quote #6
'Dearest one.'
'Darling, darling, darling.' They embraced hungrily, the door still open. 'Yumyumyumyumyum.' Derek disengaged himself and kicked it shut." (1.9.1-2)
Here, the novel's narrative voice seems to be having a laugh at heterosexual courtship behaviors—after all, when was the last time you ever heard people go "yumyumyumyumyum" while making out?