Doctor Zhivago Family Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

[Nature] was dearer to her than a father and mother, better than a lover, and wiser than a book. (3.7.9)

While Zhivago tends to hear his mother in nature, Lara hears only nature, which to her is actually better than a mother or father. On top of that, she also finds that nature contains more wisdom than a book. For her, nature is all she needs, and family doesn't seem all that important in this passage.

Quote #5

During the first hours Tonya cried her head off, thrashed in convulsions, and recognized no one. (3.15.2)

Dying mothers are a bit of a trend in this book. When Anna Gromeko dies, her daughter Tonya cries for hours and hardly knows where she is. Zhivago doesn't feel as grieved as she does, but that's only because he was so sad at his own mother's funeral that he's basically become desensitized to the sadness of death. That sort of thing comes in handy when you're a doctor.

Quote #6

[That] was why Yura was so shaken by his mother's death, because he had been lost in that forest with her and was suddenly left alone in it, without her. (3.15.5)

When his mother dies, a young Yuri Zhivago doesn't know what to do with himself. With his dad gone, too, he has no one to help guide him through life, at least until his uncle Nikolai shows up and totally does a great job.