How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Well!" the young man said.
"Well!" she said.
"Well, here we are," he said.
"Here we are," she said. "Aren't we?"
"I should say we were," he said. "Eeyop. Here we are."
"Well!' she said." (5-10)
They're having trouble figuring out what to say to one another, aren't they? So, they just make a lot of "sound and fury, signifying nothing"… like idiots, according to Shakespeare.
Quote #2
"But afterwards, it'll be alright. I mean. I mean—well, look, honey, you don't look any too comfortable." (42)
"I mean" is what the husband (and the wife) say when they're avoiding talking about sex. They say they mean something else—but what they really mean is sex, ironically enough. Jeez, these crazy kids are super-awkward.
Quote #3
"I know this is the new style and everything like that, and it's probably great. I don't know anything about things like that. Only I like the kind of a hat like that blue hat you had. Gee, I liked that hat."
"Oh, really?" she said. "Well, that's nice. That's lovely. The first thing you say to me, as soon as you get me off on a train away from my family and everything, is that you don't like my hat. The first thing you say to your wife is you think she has terrible taste in hats. That's nice, isn't it?" (48-49)
The husband decides to talk about a hat he really does like, which either gets misinterpreted or correctly interpreted as meaning he does not like the hat the wife does have—despite the fact that he says it's "probably great." That doesn't sound like a very strong, ringing endorsement of the hat—partly because he fails to pad his opinion sensitively enough, despite his best efforts.
Quote #4
"Listen, honey," he said, "I never should have said that. How does anybody know what kind of crazy things come into their heads when they're standing there waiting to get married? I was just telling you that because it was so kind of crazy. I thought it would make you laugh." (70)
The fact that the husband thought this would make his wife laugh demonstrates his general cluelessness. His wife thinks he said it with "malice and forethought"—but it really does seem to just be a product of his own obliviousness/mild insensitivity.
Quote #5
"Is there anything special you want to do tonight?"
"What?" she said.
"What I mean to say," he said, "would you like to go to a show or something?"
"Why, whatever you like," she said. "I sort of didn't think people went to theaters and things on their—I mean, I've got a couple of letters I simply must write. Don't let me forget."
"Oh," he said. "You're going to write letters tonight?" (78-82)
The wife wasn't expecting her husband to want to go to a show—since her "I mean" shows that she was assuming they would have sex. Confused, she throws out her own silly suggestion, throwing the husband off balance and showing that he was still assuming they would consummate the marriage (of course).
Quote #6
"There was a silence with things going on in it." (97)
This is the narrator's voice suddenly re-entering the story after a long absence. It's kind of cryptic: what exactly is going on in the silence? Probably just the fevered mechanics of their own sexually inexperienced minds, to be honest.
Quote #7
"I never said any such thing," he said. "You're crazy."
"All right, I may be crazy," she said. "Thank you very much. But that's what you said." (104-105)
The wife is still mad the husband said he didn't like her hat. He's claiming that he never said that, since he said it was "probably great." But "it's probably great" can sound pretty close to "it sucks" if you say it the right way. At any rate, it's a pretty petty point to dwell on.
Quote #8
"Not that it matters—it's just a little thing. But it makes you feel pretty funny to think you've gone and married somebody that says you have perfectly terrible taste in hats. And then goes and says you're crazy, beside."
"Now, listen here," he said. "Nobody said any such thing. Why, I love that hat. The more I look at it the better I like it. I think it's great." (105-106)
The husband's sudden change in opinion about the hat is obviously insincere and meant to get his wife to stop talking about it. But, clearly, it's a silly argument to prolong indefinitely.
Quote #9
"I love the damned hat. I mean, I love your hat. I love anything you wear. What more do you want me to say?"
"Well, I don't want you to say it like that," she said." (108-109)
The wife wants the husband to genuinely like her hat, and somehow convince her of it. But that's going to be pretty hard to prove at this point. (Of course, she probably really wants him to convince her that he loves her.)
Quote #10
"Yes, here we are," she said. "Aren't we?" (113)
As the story ends, the wife still isn't certain about whether they're really "here." "Here" isn't just a satisfying sex life—although it probably includes that. It's mainly a loving, contented, stable marriage. But whether these crazy kids have that is something that only time can reveal.