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I would have done anything for him. Maybe that was my sickness. We made love in nothing places and turned the lights off. It felt like crying. We could not look at each other. It always had to be from behind. Like that first time. And I knew he wasn't thinking of me. He squeezed my sides so hard, and pushed so hard. Like he was trying to push me through to somewhere else. Why does anyone ever make love?
Jonathan Safran Foer
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote explores the complexities and emotional struggles involved in love and intimacy.

In this quote, Jonathan Safran Foer reflects on the painful and sometimes suffocating nature of love and physical intimacy. The speaker expresses a deep longing and a sense of sacrifice, posing existential questions about the purpose of love while revealing the emotional disconnect present in their relationship. The imagery of making love in 'nothing places' and not being able to face one another underscores a profound sense of alienation, making the act of love feel more like a burden than a fulfillment.

Themes

LoveIntimacyRelationshipSacrificeAlienation

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be shared during a discussion about the complexities of modern relationships.

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