How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
This fiscal period, I am flirting with Jane. Jane is new in the Art Department and not quite sure whether I mean it or not. She is just a few years out of college, where she majored in fine arts, and still finds things in the city daring, sophisticated, and intellectual. She goes to the movies a lot. She has not, I think slept with a married man yet. (2.27)
Slocum's extramarital affairs and flirtatious conquests are pretty much the routine for men in the company. Young girls like Jane fall prey to married men like Slocum, who make it something of a game to get with them. Everyone is looking for some way out of his or her humdrum life.
Quote #2
I used to like girls who were tall and heavy, slightly coarse, and maybe I still do, but I seem to be doing most of my sleeping these days with girls who are slim and pretty and mostly young. My wife is tall and slim and used to be very pretty when she was young. (2.31)
Slocum always mentions his wife when he talks about his flings with other women. He isn't his wife's biggest fan, yet he thinks about her even when he's having affairs. Does that mean he actually kind of loves her? Or is he just accustomed to her?
Quote #3
Unmarried men are not wanted in the Sales Department, not even widowers, for the company has learned from experience that it is difficult and dangerous for unmarried salesmen to mix socially with prominent executives and their wives or participate with them in responsible civic affairs (Too many of the wives of these prominent and very successful men are no more satisfied with their marital situation than are their husbands.) (2.37)
The company seems to have some implicit rules regarding marriage, and positions within the department seem to be determined by a man's marital status. Such rules are arbitrary, of course, but they make for an interesting workplace dynamic in which the line between professional life and personal life is blurred.
Quote #4
My wife is unhappy. She is one of those married women who are very, very bored and lonely, and I don't know what I can make myself do about it (except get a divorce, and make her unhappier still). (3.1)
Like many housewives, Slocum's wife is miserable. All she does is shop, clean, and cook. To spice things up a bit, she has been drinking a bit—okay, maybe more than a bit—during the day, according to Slocum. But this is something that is to be expected of unhappy housewives like Mrs. Slocum.
Quote #5
I meet many young girls I like an awful lot for a while and feel I could love loyally for the rest of my life if I didn't know beforehand that I would grow bored so quickly. (3.66)
Slocum is not just bored with his wife; she was young once, too, and at one point, he wasn't bored with her. It's just in Slocum's character to become bored with all women. The pattern of being unfulfilled just perpetuates.
Quote #6
…and I try my best to remember on what terms she and I parted this morning, or went to sleep last night, in order to know if she is still angry with me for something I did or didn't say or do that I am no longer even aware of. (3.73)
Slocum thinks that it doesn't matter much if he and his wife part on either good or bad terms, because she has probably forgotten, too. Upon Slocum's return home, even she is trying to remember if they are friends tonight or not.
Quote #7
We have had better times together, my wife and I, than we are having now; but I do not think we will have them again. (3.93)
Slocum laments over the past, a time that will never come again. Something must have happened between the Slocums that has caused them to grow apart (maybe just the passage of time?), and he looks back on the good times both with fondness and with sadness.
Quote #8
"You're some girl," I tell her admiringly, after a long, deep embrace during which we are both practically still.
"You did it," she agrees readily, with a boastful laugh, sitting astride me now and rocking back and forth. "You made me this way."
I can't believe it was all my fault. (3.117)
Though Slocum has played a huge part in how his wife feels about her life, it's not 100% his doing. She is responsible for her own happiness, too, and unfortunately, she is also in control of her own unhappiness.
Quote #9
With my wife by now, I think it no longer matters very much either way to either one of us whether I make her happy or unhappy; the difference is not so great nor the effect lasting; by now, I think we have learned how to get through the rest of our lives with each other and are both already more than halfway there. (5.98)
Slocum's marriage has transformed into mere companionship, comfort, and complacency. Void of all passion and spontaneity, the two simply coexist. Home life is something of a dance, and the two have it down almost perfectly. It's just not a very interesting or fulfilling dance.
Quote #10
I suppose my wife and I will have to split up finally too when the children are away at college. I hope it doesn't have to happen sooner while I'm changing jobs at the company or while my daughter is still mired indecisively in adolescence and high school and my boy stands rooted numbly in terror of Forgione and rope climbing and gives no sure indication yet of whether he will make his way up or down. (6.174)
Divorce seems like the next logical thing to do when the children move away, like another box to check off the list. But Slocum doesn't even know where to begin with a divorce, and he fears that everyone will take her side in the matter. So better just not bother.