How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Jaws.
Quote #4
BEN MEADOWS: But we never had that kind of trouble in these waters.
This line sums up how the townspeople generally feel about the shark: It's never happened before, so they don't want to believe it's happening now. Bad things like that just don't happen in their town. Is it hard to believe they could have this attitude? Hooper is up against some pretty rigid thinking.
Quote #5
VAUGHN: I don't think you appreciate the gut reaction people have to these things. […] Martin, it's all psychological. You yell "barracuda," everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell "shark!" and we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.
Mayor Vaughn is hyper-sensitive about using the word "shark," but he has a pretty good grasp on how the people in his town, especially the tourists, are going to react. His town depends on tourism to survive, so he has to manage those tourists carefully.
Quote #6
ELLEN: When do I get to become an islander?
COUNCILWOMAN: Ellen, never! Never! You're not born here, you're not an islander.
Do you think it's really true that the Brody family will never become "islanders"? Ironically, we detect a New York accent in the councilwoman's speech; she doesn't seem like a native either. Our guess is that she's just repeating what she thinks the locals think.