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Does he write to you? Never a line. Does he send you a message? Never a word. It is because he loves you, poor fool, and is trying to forget you, since you are not free to listen to him or to belong to him.
Kate Chopin
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote suggests that sometimes silence can be a sign of love, especially when someone is trying to let go.

In this quote by Kate Chopin, the speaker reflects on the painful nature of unreciprocated love. The absence of communication from a lover may seem hurtful, but it signifies a deeper struggle; the lover chooses silence as a way to cope with the realization that the object of their affection is not available to them. This profound acknowledgment of love's complexities captures the conflict between true feelings and the reality of unavailability.

Themes

LoveSilenceLetting GoHeartbreakUnrequited Love

In practice

Example use cases

During a discussion about the complexities of love in a romantic book club.

More from Kate Chopin

She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna heard her father's voice and her sister Margaret's. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air. (last lines)
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There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why,--when it did not seem worthwhile to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation.
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There would be no one there to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistance with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
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