How we cite our quotes: (Story.Section.Paragraph) or (Story.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She had never been particularly passionate with him, not even during the early years of their marriage; it was more a matter of being sexually comfortable. After the birth of the child she simply never thought of him sexually at all. (Lover.1)
Walker and her characters are not big on marriage. In this world, marriage has a nasty way of crushing female sexuality. That's because marital love (or lust) is stunted by things like a partner's love of porn, the birth of children (which is never seen as a positive thing), or—as in this case—a sense of confinement or suffocation.
The narrator of "The Lover" knows that she's beautiful, talented, and productive. Why should she confine herself to the boundaries of marriage—especially to a man who does nothing for her? She sees the acquisition of many lovers as the best chance to fully express her sexuality.
Quote #2
When they made love she was disappointed. He did not appear to believe in unhurried pleasure, and thought the things she suggested he might do to please her very awkward at the least. But it hardly mattered, since what mattered was the fact of having a lover. (Lover.24)
The narrator so looks forward to taking her first lover and becoming a modern woman. It's almost a shame that the sex isn't great. But this doesn't stop her from loving the whole experience—because, hey, it's all about the thrill of an adventure.
Quote #3
Still, he does not know how to make love without the fantasies fed to him by movies and magazines. Those movies and magazines […] that have insinuated themselves between him and his wife, so that the totality of her body, her entire corporeal reality is alien to him. Even to clutch her in lust is automatically to shut his eyes. (Coming Apart.70)
In "Coming Apart: By Way of Introduction to Lorde, Teish and Gardner," we get a brief look at male sexuality through Walker's eyes. The husband in her "fable" can't find arousal without the sexual fantasies inspired by film and porn. The problem? These fantasies cut him off from any real engagement with his wife. She may be there, but she's not the one he's really making love to. Sex for him is a selfish act played out entirely in his own mind.