We couldn't imagine the emptiness of a creature who put a razor to her wrists and opened her veins, the emptiness and the calm.
Jeffrey EugenidesRead
Jerome was sliding and climbing on top of me and it felt like it had the night before, like a crushing weight. So do boys and men announce their intentions. They cover you like a sarcophagus lid. And call it love.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote illustrates the idea that some expressions of love can feel suffocating rather than liberating.
In this quote, Jeffrey Eugenides explores the complex nature of love, suggesting that what may be perceived as affectionate behavior can sometimes feel overwhelming and oppressive. The metaphor of a sarcophagus lid symbolizes how men might express their feelings in ways that smother rather than uplift, raising questions about the true nature of romance and emotional intimacy.
Themes
LoveRelationshipsIntimacyEmotional WeightSuffocation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about unhealthy relationships in a public seminar.
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Depression is like a bruise that never goes away. A bruise in your mind. You just got to be careful not to touch it where it hurts. It's always there, though.
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She lost much of her appetite. At night, an invisible hand kept shaking her awake every few hours. Grief was physiological, a disturbance of the blood. Sometimes a whole minute would pass in nameless dread - the bedside clock ticking, the blue moonlight coating the window like glue - before she`d remember the brutal fact that had caused it.
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It was one of those humid days when the atmosphere gets confused. Sitting on the porch, you could feel it: the air wishing it was water.
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All sixteen mentioned her jutting ribs, the insubstantiality of her thighs, and one, who went up to the roof with Lux during a warm winter rain, told us how the basins of her collarbones collected water.
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