How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
There was something atavistic in Beatrice-Joanna: she instinctively shuddered now at the sight of two white-coated women radiographers who, leaving their department at the other end of the corridor, sauntered towards the lift, smiling fondly at each other, gazing into each other's eyes, fingers intertwined. (1.1.11)
Although it may seem at times as though Beatrice-Joanna's prejudices are hers alone, and not the narrative voice's, passages like this one present us with hard interpretive questions. For instance: if Beatrice-Joanna's homophobia was just her own, and not the narrative voice's too, would the words "instinctual" and "atavistic" appear here? Those words imply that heterosexuality is an earlier evolutionary trait: one that may be more "natural," even if it is considered primitive in Beatrice-Joanna's world.
Quote #2
[. . .] all over the country blared posters put out by the Ministry of Infertility, showing, in ironical nursery colours, an embracing pair of one sex or the other with the legend It's Sapiens to be Homo. The Homosex Institute even ran night-classes. (1.1.12)
In The Wanting Seed, homosexuality is encouraged by the State because same-sex couples can't reproduce. Deep down, is Beatrice-Joanna and Tristram's society truly inclusive toward homosexual love, or does it simply think it's convenient?
Quote #3
The female friends giggled at Beatrice-Joanna. 'To hell with you,' she said, wiping her eyes, 'to hell with the lot of you. You're unclean, that's what you are, unclean.' [. . .] The bullfrog lesbian held protective arms round her friend, hostile eyes on Beatrice-Joanna. 'I'll give her unclean,' she said hoarsely. 'I'll rub her face in the dirt, that's what I'll do.' 'Oh, Freda,' adored the other, 'you're so brave.' (1.1.13)
The narrative voice of The Wanting Seed spends a lot of time describing human characters in animalistic terms, and never in a complimentary way. What's the point of describing human characters as animals? Which kinds of characters get hit the hardest?