Important Quotations Explained
1. But
the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick. We nailed him
into a coffin and he got out of the coffin without removing one
nail. . . . There is a trick that would come in handy for me—get
me out of this two-by-four situation! . . . You know it don't take
much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura.
But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one
nail?
2. Well,
in the South we had so many servants. Gone, gone, gone. All vestige
of gracious living! Gone completely! I wasn't prepared for what
the future brought me. All of my gentlemen callers were sons of
planters and so of course I assumed that I would be married to one
and raise my family on a large piece of land with plenty of servants.
But man proposes—and woman accepts the proposal! To vary that old,
old saying a bit—I married no planter! I married a man who worked
for the telephone company! . . . A telephone man who—fell in love
with long-distance!
3.
LAURA: Little
articles of [glass], they're ornaments mostly! Most of them are
little animals made out of glass, the tiniest little animals in
the world. Mother calls them a glass menagerie! Here's an example
of one, if you'd like to see it! . . . Oh, be careful—if you breathe,
it breaks! . . . You see how the light shines through him?
JIM: It
sure does shine!
LAURA: I
shouldn't be partial, but he is my favorite one.
JIM: What
kind of a thing is this one supposed to be?
LAURA: Haven't
you noticed the single horn on his forehead?
JIM: A
unicorn, huh? —aren't they extinct in the modern world?
LAURA: I
know!
JIM: Poor little
fellow, he must feel sort of lonesome.
4.
JIM: Aw,
aw, aw. Is it broken?
LAURA: Now
it is just like all the other horses.
JIM: It's
lost its—
LAURA: Horn!
It doesn't matter. . . . [
smiling] I'll just imagine
he had an operation. The horn was removed to make him feel less—freakish!
5. I
descended the steps of this fire escape for a last time and followed,
from then on, in my father's footsteps, attempting to find in motion
what was lost in space. . . . I would have stopped, but I was pursued
by something. . . . I pass the lighted window of a shop where perfume
is sold. The window is filled with pieces of colored glass, tiny transparent
bottles in delicate colors, like bits of a shattered rainbow. Then
all at once my sister touches my shoulder. I turn around and look
into her eyes. Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me,
but I am more faithful than I intended to be!
