Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
We are linked by blood, and blood is memory without language.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that familial connections transcend verbal communication and are deeply rooted in shared experiences and memories.
Joyce Carol Oates' quote highlights the profound ties that bind family members together through familial blood relations. It emphasizes that these connections are not merely about shared language or verbal expressions but rather about a deeper, instinctual bond formed through shared memories and experiences that shape one’s identity and sense of belonging.
Themes
BloodMemoryFamilyRelationshipsConnections
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of family at a community event.
More from Joyce Carol Oates
All quotes →I never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and girlhood were spent in upstate New York, in the country north of Buffalo and West of Rochester. So this part of New York state is very familiar to me and, with its economic difficulties, has become emblematic of much of American life.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
. . . there is a wish in the heart of mankind to be distracted and confused. Truth is but one attraction, and not always the most powerful.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
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