How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Fargo.
Quote #1
WADE: He just ate—he didn't finish! He's goin' to McDonalds instead of finishin' here.
JEAN: He sees his friends there. It's okay.
WADE: It's okay? Whaddya think they do there? They don't drink milkshakes, I assure you.
JEAN: It's okay, Dad!
Wade's a domineering grandfather, it seems—a patriarch, an authority. Here, he's stridently questioning a pretty mild parenting decision on Jean's part. Wade's used to getting his way in the family, something which will cause major problems later on.
Quote #2
JERRY: I'm askin' you here, Wade. This could work out real good for me and Jean and Scotty.
WADE: Jean and Scotty'll never have to worry.
Wade implies that he doesn't really care about Jerry. Wade's daughter and grandson won't need to worry, since he'll support them. This shows us that Jerry doesn't need the money from the kidnapping to help support his family. He's just trying to dig himself out of some trouble he got himself into that he can't reveal to his wife. Carl asks Jerry a good question: why doesn't he just ask Wade for a loan rather than arranging his wife's kidnapping? The answer's complicated.
Quote #3
[A morning-show host in an apron stands behind a counter on a kitchen set. Jean Lundegaard is curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee, watching the television.]
The Coens write the character of Jean as a stereotypical housewife. Scotty's off to school and Jerry's at work, and she's knitting and watching daytime TV. It's a very conventional family. That is, if you define conventional as a wife who gets kidnapped and murdered and a husband who arranges it. This is part of the absurd humor of the film. Highly unusual events intrude into a very commonplace life.
Quote #4
STAN Okay. And Scotty, is he gonna be all right?
JERRY Yah, geez, Scotty. I'll go talk to him.
Jerry hasn't given a minute's thought to how his son might be dealing with his mother's disappearance. Just another example of how self-absorbed he is and how little clue he has as to what's good for his family
Quote #5
MIKE: Yah, well, I, uh... it's not that it didn't work out... Linda had leukemia. She passed away.
Mike Yanagita is lying. Linda is just a woman he was stalking, who's still alive, and whom he never married. His irrational state and non-existent marriage seem to provide a contrast with the Gundersons' very grounded existence.
Quote #6
WADE: Where's my damn daughter!? No Jean, no money.
Wade honestly does care about his daughter—unlike Jerry. Unfortunately, his domineering personality and fatherly protectiveness end up getting him killed.
Quote #7
NORM: Hautman's blue-winged teal got the twenty-nine cent. People don't much use the three-cent.
MARGE: Oh, for Pete's sake, of course they do! Whenever they raise the postage, people need the little stamps.
Marge is being herself—kind, optimistic, and encouraging. Her husband didn't win the painting award he wanted, but she seems genuinely proud of him and intuitively knows what to say to buck him up.