How we cite our quotes: (Story.Section.Paragraph) or (Story.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Even the distraction caused by the birth of her child was a price she was, ultimately, prepared to pay. She did not intend to have a second one, after all—that would be too stupid—and this one would, before she knew it, be grown up enough for boarding school. (Lover.18)
Like so many of Walker's heroines in this work, this woman knows what she wants out of life: freedom, adventure, time for creativity, and professional productivity. She's had a baby to please her husband, but she looks forward to a time when she won't have the responsibilities of a mother. It sounds harsh, but Walker points out an important issue in this story: work-life balance is just not a thing for so many women.
Quote #2
But, surprisingly, while watching herself become her mother in the mirror, she discovers that she considers her mother—who carefully braids her average-length, average-grade, graying hair every night before going to bed; the braids her father still manages to fray during the night—very sexy. (Coming Apart.25)
The wife in this story finds herself in an awkward situation: all that porn her husband loves—not to mention pretty much everything on TV and in film—tells her that she isn't as desirable as she could be. The standards and expectations set by these industries are way unrealistic, and it takes a serious effort on her part to stand her ground and tell her truth: she, like her mom, is worth loving, and she's beautiful as she is.
Quote #3
In her husband's silence there was tension, criticism of her, impatience. He held his tongue the better to make her know what he thought. Mrs. Hyde held hers as a comfort; she knew Mrs. Clement White needed the silence—after an encounter with other people—to settle into herself again. (Fame.15)
The companionship between famous author Andrea Clement White and her servant—er, assistant—Mrs. Hyde feels a little abusive at times. Actually, Clement White sounds pretty unbearable. But Mrs. Hyde gets her—at least Andrea Clement White thinks she does. We'll never know what Mrs. Hyde actually thinks, but there seems to be a friendship between the two women that insulates them from the insufferable men in their lives.