How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"I don't think this is the kind of disaster that leads to sexual abandon. One or two fellows might come skulking out eventually but there won't be an orgiastic horde, not tonight anyway." (21.460)
Murray thinks that the prostitutes near him won't get much business from people who've evacuated from Blacksmith after the Airborne Toxic Event. He imagines a couple might come by, but not a whole bunch. Normally, you might think a disaster would make people want to have sex, just in case they're about to die. But the Airborne Toxic Event has a certain dullness to it that keeps any sexual energy from building.
Quote #8
"It's none of my business," I said, "but what is it she's willing to do with you for twenty-five dollars?"
"The Heimlich maneuver." (21.492-21.493)
For Murray, there are many ways to get a sexual thrill. One of them just happens to be giving a prostitute the Heimlich maneuver? Where's the thrill in that? Murray likes to fantasize about saving a woman's life and being a hero, which for him is pretty much the same thing as the glory of having sex. For him, there's nothing biological about it. It's all about feeling like a big man.
Quote #9
"This was the only way I could get Mr. Gray to let me use the drug. It was my last resort, my last hope. First I'd offered him my mind. Now I offered my body." (26.42)
Babette eventually admits to Jack that she traded sex to a man so he would give her Dylar pills to take away her fear of death. This is one of the book's most shocking admissions, and it fills Jack with murderous rage. But Babette continues to talk as though it's reasonable. For her, the fear of death goes deeper than the intimacy of sex.