Men are said to desire women, Severian. Why do they despise the women they obtain?
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the contradictory nature of desire and contempt in human relationships.
Gene Wolfe's quote questions the paradox of human desire, particularly regarding men and women. It suggests that while men may pursue women and identify them as objects of desire, they often harbor disdain for those very women they attain, pointing to deeper issues in how relationships are often navigated and the complexity of emotional responses towards love and attraction.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about gender dynamics in relationships.
That was when I found out that the best way in the world to make yourself feel better when you have hit bottom is to try to get somebody else to feel better. There are certain things in life that are truly worth knowing, and that is one of the big ones.
All novels are fantasies. Some are more honest about it.
Even though many couples are choosing to marry later in life, our laws haven't been updated to address dating partner abuse.
Choosing nonviolence does not mean that one will never get angry or become upset with others, including the ones we love.
Love rests on two pillars: surrender and autonomy. Our need for togetherness exists alongside our need for separateness.
There is simply no dignified way for a woman to live alone. Oh, she can get along financially perhaps (though not nearly as well as a man), but emotionally she is never left in peace. Her friends, her family, her fellow workers never let her forget that her husbandlessness, her childlessness - her selfishness, in short - is a reproach to the American way of life.
Is it not true that no two human beings understand anything whatsoever about each other, that those who consider themselves bosom friends may be utterly mistaken about their fellow and, failing to realize this sad truth throughout a lifetime, weep when they read in the newspapers about his death?
But now his dry and silent grieving for his lost wife must end, for there she stood, the fierce, recalcitrant, and fragile stranger, forever to be won again.
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