Jacob Have I Loved Appearances Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

[Caroline's] was the first head out of the opening, wrapped against the wind in a sky blue scarf. Just enough of her hair had escaped to make her look fresh and full like a girl in a cigarette ad. (4.50)

Of course, Caroline looks like a model when she steps off the ferry from Crisfield. This is how Louise sees her twin sister—beautiful, sophisticated, and perfectly put together. It's miles from how she sees herself.

Quote #5

I would come in from a day of progging for crab, sweating and filthy. Caroline would remark mildly that my fingernails were dirty. How could they be anything else but dirty? But instead of simply acknowledging the fact, I would fly into a wounded rage. How dare she call me dirty? How dare she try to make me feel inferior to her own pure, clear beauty? It wasn't my fingernails she was concerned with, that I was sure of. She was using my fingernails to indict my soul. Wasn't she content to be golden perfection without cutting away at me? Was she to allow me no virtue—no shard of pride or decency? (6.2)

Oh, man. Louise is just looking for a fight. She's sensitive about her own appearance so she takes it out on Caroline. To be fair, maybe Caroline could lay off Louise's nails.

Quote #6

"She's lovely, she's engaged, she uses Pond's" the advertisement read, showing two exquisitely white hands with perfectly formed and manicured nails, long nails, and a diamond ring sparkling on the gracefully curved left hand. A man with strong clean hands would never look at me in love. No man would. At the moment, it seemed worse than being forsaken by God. (12.21)

You might be surprised, but this is actually based on a real ad. Louise isn't the first teenage girl to feel bad about herself compared to an advertisement. The awful part is that she feels bad about herself compared to a very real person—Caroline.