How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #1
Crash clank! went the lawyer's bracelets. The contrast amused Haber: the harsh fierce woman, the meek characterless man. They had nothing in common at all. (5.24)
Is Dr. Haber correct? Do Heather and George have nothing in common with one another? Maybe the union of opposites (if they really are opposites) recalls that old yin-yang sign from Taoism: two different energies come together to make a whole.
Quote #2
An irrelevant and poignant sensation of pleasure rose in him, like a tree that grew up and flowered all in one moment with its roots in his loins and its flowers in his mind. (6.13)
Aww, George has a crush on Heather. Notice that Le Guin says the feeling he has for her has its roots in his loins (lust!), and its flowers in his mind (love!).
Quote #3
The one lived among seven billion others, where the food, such as it was, was never enough. Where an egg was the luxury of the month —"Today we ovulate!" his halfwife had used to say when she bought their egg ration.... Curious, in this life they hadn't had a trial marriage, he and Donna. There was no such thing, legally speaking, in the post-Plague years. There was full marriage only. In Utah, since the birth rate was still lower than the death rate, they were even trying to reinstitute polygamous marriage, for religious and patriotic reasons. But he and Donna hadn't had any kind of marriage this time, they had just lived together. But still it hadn't lasted. (6.39)
Why do you think the tradition surrounding marriage changes so much in these different realities? What would be the purpose of a trial marriage? Why do you think Donna and George didn't get married in the Plague reality?