How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue.
Quote #4
Listen, Emily, I’m going to tell you why I’m not going to Agriculture School. I think that once you’ve found a person that you’re very fond of…I mean a person who’s fond of you, too, and likes you enough to be interested in your character…Well, I think that’s just as important as college is, and even more so. That’s what I think. (II.256)
George decides to forego school in order to develop his relationship with Emily.
Quote #5
GEORGE: Emily, if I do improve and make a big change…would you be… I mean: could you be…
EMILY: I… I am now; I always have been. (II.261-2)
The actual proposal is unsaid – and it’s also predicated on the idea that George improves himself.
Quote #6
SAM CRAIG: He was organist at church, wasn’t he? – Hm, drank a lot, we used to say.
JOE STODDARD: Nobody was supposed to know about it. He’d seen a peck of trouble. Behind his hand. Took his own life, y’know?
SAM: Oh, did he?
JOE Hung himself in the attic. They tried to hush it up, but of course it got around. He chose his own epy-taph. You can see it there. It ain’t a verse exactly (III.58-61).
Simon’s decision to end his life doesn’t result in greater understanding. Rather, he’s an even greater enigma.