How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"They turned me into a hypocrite and a liar. They stifled me with their bourgeois comfort and I don't understand why there is any red blood left in my veins. I would lower my eyes and put on a sad, imbecilic face like them, leading the same dead life. [...] they had turned me into a docile creature with their weak kindness and their repulsive tenderness. So I lied, and I kept on lying. I stayed there, sweet and silent, dreaming about how I could hit and bite. (7.16)
Thérèse learns very early in life how to dissemble. The stifling environment of the shop forces Thérèse to hide her passionate nature behind a "sad, imbecilic face." Aw. We kind of feel sorry for the girl.
Quote #2
Thérèse [...] was obliged to play a part. She did so with perfection, thanks to the training in hypocrisy that she owed to her upbringing. She had lied for more than fifteen years, repressing her passions and applying her implacable will to appear dull and listless. She had no difficulty in freezing her features behind a dead mask. (8.5)
After Thérèse commits adultery, she is forced to "play a part." But she's been training her whole life for this; she's a veritable Rocky of lying. So Thérèse has no difficulty in hiding the secret of her affair behind a "dead mask."
Quote #3
This frightful play-acting, this life of deception and this contrast between the burning kisses of daytime and the feigned indifference of evening, made the young woman's heart pound with new ardor. (8.9)
At the height of her passion for Laurent, Thérèse finds pleasure in deceiving Mme Raquin and Camille. She finds lying a very powerful thing to do, and all of this deceit seems to turn her on. Meow.
Quote #4
The play-acting involved was long and delicate. Both Thérèse and Laurent had taken on the role that suited them and they went forward with extreme caution, weighing every little word and gesture. Underneath, they were consumed by impatience that wore and stretched their nerves (18. 6)
After Camille's murder, Thérèse and Laurent conspire to convince Mme Raquin and their friends that they should get married. This involves creating a very careful web of lies, so that Michaud ends up thinking it was his own idea that Thérèse should marry Laurent. Ouch, our heads hurt from trying to keep all of these lies straight. We just don't know how these two do it. Oh, that's right, they don't—they kill themselves at the end of the book.
Quote #5
They had killed a man and acted out a frightful piece of play-acting so that they could wallow with impunity in constant gratification of their senses; yet here they were, on either side of the fireplace, rigid, exhausted, their minds troubled and their bodies dead. This outcome struck them as a horrid, cruel farce. (21.7)
After Thérèse and Laurent succeed in convincing everyone that they should get married, they realize that their marriage is a complete farce. Their lies have only given rise to more lies, and their marriage is the biggest lie of them all. Tragic.
Quote #6
She had led a life of affection and gentleness and now, in her last hours, when she was about to take her belief in the simple goodness of life into the grave with her, a voice was shouting that everything was a lie, everything was criminal. (26.18)
After her stroke, Mme Raquin eats up the constant attention. However, when she finds out about her son's murder, Mme Raquin feels as if her whole life has been a lie. We mean, it kind of has. So she decides she can no longer believe in the "goodness of life."
Quote #7
Their arguments always finished liked that: they would protest their innocence and attempt to deceive themselves in order to drive away their bad dreams. (28. 44)
Thérèse and Laurent use their fights as a way to deceive themselves into thinking they are innocent. However, this self-delusion only propels them deeper into their waking (and sleeping) nightmares.
Quote #8
The strangest thing was that they were unable to deceive themselves with their protestations, because both of them recalled the precise circumstances of the murder. Even as their lips denied it, they could each read a confession in the other's eyes. Their lies were childish, their assertions ridiculous: disputes of empty words between two wretches who lied for the sake of lying, yet were unable to conceal the fact of their lying from each other. (28. 44)
As much as Thérèse and Laurent lie—to each other and themselves—deep down, they know the truth of what happened.
Quote #9
After a while, she came to believe in the reality of this play-acting. She imagined that she had received Mme Raquin's pardon and from then on talked to her only of her happiness at having her forgiveness. (29.9)
Thérèse deludes herself into thinking that Mme Raquin has forgiven her. Does this self-delusion suggest that Thérèse feels remorse for the murder? Maybe. She sure does seem to exhibit all of the stereotypical signs of a guilty-feeling person.
Quote #10
This is what everyone thought: Thérèse and Laurent would even be cited as a model couple. The whole Passage du Pont-Neuf praised the affection, the tranquil happiness and the endless honeymoon enjoyed by the couple. They alone knew how the corpse of Camille would lie between them. (24.16)
Thérèse and Laurent have succeeded in fooling everyone in the Passage du Pont-Neuf that they're the model couple. But their lies are unsustainable. Soon, the newlyweds find it impossible to pretend that they are happily married. They're just miserable, like every other married couple. (Ba-dum-tsh.)