How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"The truth about me is simply that I'm the most unappreciated of—what do you call the fellows?—'family-men.' Yes, I'm a family-man; upon my honour I am!" (VIII.35)
Here's another chestnut from Sir Claude, who defines himself this way during his first conversation with Mrs. Beale. By the end of the book, we understand that he wishes he were a family man, but he's not quite there yet. So here, James is practicing a tricky kind of foreshadowing that uses irony.
Quote #5
It was while this absence lasted that our young lady finally discovered what had happened in the house to be that her mother was no longer in love. (XI.4)
Family is such a sordid affair in What Maisie Knew that Maisie is aware, eventually, of every twist and turn of her parents' private passions. James is showing us the dark side of parents being too open about their feelings.
Quote #6
She therefore recognised the hour that in troubled glimpses she had long foreseen, the hour when—the phrase for it came back to her from Mrs. Beale—with two fathers, two mothers and two homes, six protections in all, she shouldn't know "wherever" to go. (XII.1)
Here, we see again what an unconventional family Maisie has. But this sentence also shows James's interest in radically redefining family as the terms "father" and "mother" start to sound hollow when it becomes clear that these parents really don't offer protection to Maisie.