Ragtime Time Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

She had no joy. She looked into the mirror and saw the unmistakable lineaments of womanhood coming into her girlish face. Her long beautiful neck seemed to her like an ungainly stalk upon which was perched a sad-eyed ridiculous head of a whore past her prime. (11.6)

Evelyn starts to see the effects of time on her looks, and is not too pleased with the result. It's one thing to be a teenaged beauty, and another to age and fade into obscurity. (And of course plastic surgery hadn't been invented yet.)

Quote #2

It was apparent to them both that this time he'd stayed away too long. (14.1)

Father and Mother usually benefit from the time away from each other, but the Arctic trip, both in terms of the length of time and its effect on Father, make it obvious that this was one trip he maybe shouldn't have taken.

Quote #3

He found he preferred to sit in the parlor, his feet near a small electric heater. Everyone in the family treated him like a convalescent. His son brought him beef tea. The boy had grown taller. [...] Father felt childlike beside him. (14.2)

Father has rapidly aged during his trip, becoming an old man, while his son has matured. It's almost as if Father didn't just go to the Pole but to another planet. Time has aged them in very different ways while he's been gone.