How we cite our quotes: (Story.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Gabriel felt humiliated by the failure of his irony and by the evocation of this figure from the dead, a boy in the gasworks. While he had been full of memories of their secret life together, full of tenderness and joy and desire, she had been comparing him in her mind with another. (The Dead.424)
What's the exact opposite of finding out someone was thinking exactly what you were thinking? Finding out someone was thinking about a dead guy when you were heading into Hallmark territory. That's disappointment in a nutshell.
Quote #2
Little Chandler said nothing until the barman returned with the two glasses: then he touched his friend's glass lightly and reciprocated the former toast. He was beginning to feel disillusioned. Gallaher's accent and way of expressing himself did not please him. There was something vulgar in his friend which he had not observed before. (A Little Cloud.40)
Fair enough, Chandler, this guy is annoying, but drinking more whisky with him isn't going to make him Officer Friendly. The real bummer here of course is not that his old friend is newly a jerk. It's that Chandler had built him up so much in his mind. Gallaher's smug attitude is a huge letdown.
Quote #3
He found something mean in the pretty furniture which he had bought for his house on the hire system. Annie had chosen it herself and it reminded him of her. It too was prim and pretty. A dull resentment against his life awoke within him. (A Little Cloud.109).
Wow. So furniture's the most disappointing thing of all for Chandler. Wait, it's not the furniture, per se, but the poor choices it represents. Yikes. We'll think twice the next time we look too closely at our sofa. We'd rather not discover our major life failures along with the loose change between the cushions.