How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I do not know that her being sorry to leave her home is really against her, for, with all its faults, it was her home, and she cannot as yet understand how much she has changed for the better; but then there is moderation in all things" (2.6).
Mrs. Norris's ridiculous comment about Fanny's justifiable homesickness also reveals how "home" can be a very relative concept. Though Fanny might be living in a "better" home now, she certainly doesn't see it that way.
Quote #2
"My dear Henry, have you nothing to say? You have been an improver yourself, and from what I hear of Everingham, it may vie with any place in England.[...]."
"Nothing would be so gratifying to me as to hear your opinion of it," was his answer; "but I fear there would be some disappointment; [...] as for improvement, there was very little for me to do – too little – I should like to have been busy much longer."
"You are fond of the sort of thing?" said Julia.
"Excessively" (6.54-7).
Home improvement is a running theme throughout the book, and the notion of "improvement" itself is linked to ideas of action and activity. The idea of Henry as an "improver" reveals, among other things, that he's restless and that he always needs to be involved in some sort of project or scheme, whether it's chasing after a girl or fixing up a house.
Quote #3
"That she should be tired now, however, gives me no surprise; for there is nothing in the course of one's duties so fatiguing as what we have been doing this morning – seeing a great house, dawdling from one room to another – straining one's eyes and one's attention – hearing what one does not understand – admiring what one does not care for" (9.72).
Mary discusses a truth that still applies today: people love showing off their own houses, and other people often find this pretty boring. In this era, the nice homes of wealthy families were often opened up to the general public, and people could come "tour" the house.
Quote #4
Sir Thomas was in hopes that another day or two would suffice to wipe away every outward memento of what had been, even to the destruction of every unbound copy of Lovers' Vows in the house, for he was burning all that met his eye (20.9).
Sir Thomas's actions here give good insight into his character. He seems content with outward appearances and hopes that removing all traces of the theater will make everyone forget about it. Sir Thomas's house, as well as his family, look nice on the outside but have definite problems on the inside.
Quote #5
The east room [...] was now considered Fanny's almost as decidedly as the white attic: the smallness of the one making the use of the other so evidently reasonable, that the Miss Bertrams, with every superiority in their own apartments, which their own sense of superiority could demand, were entirely approving of it (16.1).
It is very significant that the narrator withholds information about Fanny's little attic room and her occupation of the former schoolroom until Chapter 16. The details about these rooms give us a lot of insight into Fanny's character and clue us in to the type of upbringing Fanny has had at Mansfield. These details help us to sympathize with Fanny more, and it's interesting that we don't get them up-front. In some ways we were able to see Fanny as the other characters see her, without details of things like the "east room," early on in the novel.
Quote #6
Independence was more needful than ever; the want of it at Mansfield more sensibly felt. She was less and less able to endure the restraint which her father imposed. The liberty which his absence had given was now become absolutely necessary. She must escape from him and Mansfield as soon as possible [...] (21.26).
Both Maria and Julia frequently link their father with Mansfield the house and their overall concept of home. Home, to these two, is dominated by their father and is thus an oppressive place.
Quote #7
[Mary was] startled from the agreeable fancies she had been previously indulging on the strength of her brother's description, – no longer able, in the picture she had been forming of a future Thornton, to shut out the church, sink the clergyman, and see only the respectable, elegant, modernised, and occasional residence of a man of independent fortune [...] (25.47).
Mary creates a fantasy home, and a fantasy future, with Edmund that doesn't reflect reality and she's really disappointed to have her bubble burst. Home here is both a physical place and an imaginary place.
Quote #8
The living in incessant noise, was, to a frame and temper delicate and nervous like Fanny's, an evil which no superadded elegance or harmony could have entirely atoned for. It was the greatest misery of all (39.11).
Fanny's home environment in Portsmouth is miserable to her – Sir Thomas was actually right in that Fanny was rather spoiled by the nice environment of Mansfield.
Quote #9
When she had been coming to Portsmouth, she had loved to cal it her home, had been fond of saying that she was going home; the word had been very dear to her; and so it still was, but it must be applied to Mansfield. That was now her home. Portsmouth was Portsmouth; Mansfield was home (45.8).
Home is not a static concept, or a concept that always stays the same. The fact that the idea of what home can and does change is an important theme in this book. It's interesting that Fanny could only recognize Mansfield as her home after returning to, and subsequently letting go of, her childhood home.
Quote #10
[H]ad not her sister's conduct burst forth as it did, and her increased dread of her father and of home, on that event – imagining its certain consequence to herself would be greater severity and restraint – made her hastily resolve on avoiding such immediate horrors at all risks, it is probable that Mr. Yates would never have succeeded (48.17).
Once again, Mansfield becomes a place of repression and misery and anxiety. All the kids except Edmund experience Mansfield as a stressful environment at some point, and all except Edmund want to escape the house and Sir Thomas sometimes.