How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Page)
Quote #1
Hector ran, splashing/in the shallows mixed with the drizzle, towards Achille,/his cutlass lifted. The surf, in anger, gnashing its tail like a foaming dogfight. Men kill/their own brothers in rage, but the madman who tore/Achille's undershirt from one shoulder also tore at his heart. (III.i.16-17)
Hatred takes many different forms, and for Hector and Achille, it is mostly rooted in jealousy and a sense of inadequacy in the face of Helen's beauty. As the men slash at each other, there's something more important at stake here than their skins: The fight for Helen is the fight for dignity and emotional well-being.
Quote #2
He had resigned/from that haunt of middle-clarse farts, an old club/with more pompous arses than any flea could find,/a replica of the Raj, with gins-and-tonic/from black, white-jacketed servitors whose sonic/judgement couldn't distinguish a secondhand-car/salesman from Manchester from the phony pukka/tones of ex-patriates. (V.i.25)
Major Plunkett retreats from his native England to escape the class war that wounded his pride on a daily basis. But he finds that the ex-pats on St. Lucia aim to recreate the caste system they left behind, even though all of them were at the bottom of it back home. Ugh.
Quote #3
Murder throbbed in his wrists/to the loudspeaker's pelvic thud, her floating move./She was selling herself like the island, without/any pain, and the village did not seem to care/that it was dying in its change. (XXI.i.111)
Jealousy rears its ugly head for Achille here, though not for the first or last time. His anger is not just for Hector or any of the men who might admire Helen—it's for the new lifestyle that threatens to take over the traditional life of the village.