How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[Boris] eats in the restaurant out of consideration for me. He says it hurts to eat a big meal and have me watch him. (1.14)
Miller believes his dear friend Boris is too sympathetic to eat in front of him. But did he ever consider that he just makes the guy lose his appetite?
Quote #2
With that bottle between my legs and the sun splashing through the window I experience once again the splendor of those miserable days when I first arrived in Paris, a bewildered, poverty-stricken individual who haunted the streets like a ghost at a banquet (1.49).
Here's a perfect example of Henry romanticizing poverty. Having no money basically strips away everything he doesn't care about and leaves him with the beauty of pure existence. What do you think: deep or pretentious?
Quote #3
What need have I for money? I am a writing machine. (1.14)
Henry loves a good provoking sentence here and there. He knows very well what he needs money for, but he'd rather write than work.
Quote #4
I have a terrific hunger though we've only had breakfast a few minutes ago—it's the lunch that I'll have to skip. It's only Wednesdays that I eat lunch. (2.25)
Henry has poverty down to a system. Since he doesn't have enough dough for three meals a day, he has to pace himself. And in case you were wondering—yes, prostitutes cost money.
Quote #5
This, apparently, is all that Marlowe has been waiting to hear. At last he has found someone worse off than himself. (4.14)
Misery loves company, right? And in Tropic of Cancer, we're absolutely dealing with a group where one is poorer than the next. Where does Henry fall in this chain of poverty?
Quote #6
And God knows, when spring comes to Paris the humblest mortal alive must feel that he dwells in paradise […] A man does not need to be rich, nor even a citizen, to feel this way about Paris. Paris is filled with poor people—the proudest and filthiest lot of beggars that ever walked the earth, it seems to me. (5.28)
Henry loves him some poverty—but only in Paris. How would you rewrite this passage if he was writing about America instead? And what is it about Paris that makes poverty seem so romantic?
Quote #7
But I don't ask to go back to America, to be put in double harness again, to work the treadmill. No, I prefer to be a poor man in Europe. God knows I am poor enough; it only remains to be a man. (6.1)
According to Miller, America is a corrupt nation of overworked sacks. In Paris, he can be a man even if he is poor, while in the States, masculinity is measured by wealth.
Quote #8
They have an easy conscience, the rich. If a poor man dozes off, even for a few seconds, he feels mortified; he imagines that he has committed a crime against the composer. (6.17)
In case you hadn't gotten the memo, Henry doesn't like rich people. This time, he's calling them out because they have the privilege of being rude. When you're poor, on the other hand, you have to be careful not to stick out.
Quote #9
My pockets were sagging with the weight of [the 2,500 francs]. I hauled it out and counted it carefully. (15.104)
What's this? A rich Henry? Yep, at least for now. We're pretty sure, though, that the money that was supposed to go to Fillmore's fiancée, Ginette, isn't going to last long in his pocket. Does having this money change Henry at all?