How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"What would you prefer to do?" he asked.
She laughed at him indulgently, as she said:
"There is so little likelihood of my ever being given a choice, that I haven't wasted time considering."
"Pah!" he said, contemptuous on his side now. "You can only say that because you're too proud to own up what you want and can't get." (10.200-10.203)
When Paul asks Clara what she'd like to do with her life, she deflects the question by saying that society will never give her the chance to decide. Paul doesn't buy the act, however, and accuses Clara of being defensive. She won't admit to wanting anything because she's afraid she might not get it, and she's way too proud to let something like that happen. We think they both have a point here.
Quote #5
After all, she had failed to make Morel really love her. She was morally frightened. She wanted to do penance. So she kneeled to Dawes, and it gave him a subtle pleasure […] She liked to feel she was serving him across an insuperable distance. She was proud now. (14.118)
Just like Miriam, Clara Dawes loves to sacrifice herself for a man. Lawrence is being a little sketchy on his gender politics here, but we think he's trying to say that women are usually very vain. And they indulge their vanity by sacrificing themselves for their men. Sigh.
Quote #6
But she began to spare her hands. They, too, were work-gnarled now […] She regretted what they had been—so small and exquisite. And when Annie insisted on her having more stylish blouses to suit her age, she submitted. […] Then she sniffed in her sarcastic manner, and was sure she looked a sight. But she looked a lady, Paul declared, as much as Mrs. Major Moreton, and far, far nicer. (10.59)
Mrs. Morel is sad to see how gnarled her hands have become after years of housework. Had her grandfather not gone broke, she would never have had to do any household chores. Everything would've been done by servants. In this scene, she sniffs sarcastically to hide just how badly she's always wanted to be part of the upper crust. We see straight through you, Gertie.