How we cite our quotes: (Part.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The end had to come sometime; his father in his night-clothes at the top of the stairs, explanations that did not explain, hastily improvised fictions that were forever tripping him up. (1.18)
Huh. It doesn't seem like Paul did anything especially terrible except get his feet wet staring at an opera singer, so why does he feel like he has to lie about it?
Quote #2
He registered from Washington; said his mother and father had been abroad, and that he had come down to await the arrival of their steamer. He told his story plausibly and had no trouble, since he volunteered to pay for them in advance, in engaging his rooms; a sleeping-room, sitting-room and bath. (2.40)
Lies, lies, lies. Maybe Paul should have been a novelist—he's certainly good enough at making up stories.
Quote #3
There had always been the shadowed corner, the dark place into which he dared not look, but from which something seemed always to be watching him—and Paul had done things that were not pretty to watch, he knew. (2.42)
Here's another one of those brain-busting passages. What is Paul so afraid of? Who is watching him? What has he done that's so terrible? It definitely seems like there's more to his secret than art appreciation, though.
Quote #4
When the roseate tinge of his champagne was added—that cold, precious, bubbling stuff that creamed and foamed in his glass—Paul wondered that there were honest men in the world at all. This was what all the world was fighting for, he reflected; this was what all the struggle was about. (2.51)
Is this an implicit suggestion that rich people get rich through lying and violence? It certainly doesn't seem to Paul that living honestly gives you much chance of making it.
Quote #5
He doubted the reality of his past. (2.51)
Hate to break it to you, Paul, but it's still there.
Quote #6
He could not remember a time when he had felt so at peace with himself. The mere release from the necessity of petty lying, lying every day and every day, restored his self-respect. (2.55)
There's nothing like expensive clothes to make you immune to other people's judgment. Except maybe some good old-fashioned self-esteem.
Quote #7
He had never lied for pleasure, even at school; but to be noticed and admired, to assert his difference from other Cordelia Street boys; and he felt a good deal more manly, more honest, even, now that he had no need for boastful pretensions, now that he could, as his actor friends used to say, "dress the part." (2.55)
For Paul, not dressing the way he wants to is like lying to the world. Living on borrowed time (and "borrowed" money), he's actually more honest than he's ever been.
Quote #8
On the eighth day after his arrival in New York, he found the whole affair exploited in the Pittsburgh papers, exploited with a wealth of detail which indicated that local news of a sensational nature was at a low ebb. The firm of Denny & Carson announced that the boy's father had refunded the full amount of the theft, and that they had no intention of prosecuting. (2.56)
Finally, the truth comes out, even though we kind of wish it hadn't. As messed up as he is, we like Paul and want to see him doing better.