It seemed that the marriage had reached the traditional truce, the point at which so many resign themselves to cutting both their losses and their hopes.In some ways it was the conventional clandestine affair in a place like San Bernardino, a place where little is bright or graceful, where it is routine to misplace the future and easy to start looking for it in bed.January 11, 1965, was a bright warm day in Southern California, the kind of day when Catalina floats on the Pacific horizon and the air smells of orange blossoms and it is a long way from the bleak and difficult East, a long way from the cold, a long way from the past.
Joan Didion Slouching Towards...
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The marriage depicted in Joan Didion's "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" reflects a state of resignation where both partners seem to accept their unfulfilled dreams and losses. This relationship embodies a familiar scenario in a place like San Bernardino, where dissatisfaction with life often leads individuals to seek solace in secretive affairs, hinting at a broader emotional void.

On a day marked by warmth and beauty in January 1965, with the picturesque Catalina Island in view and fragrant orange blossoms in the air, there is a stark contrast to the hardships experienced elsewhere. This idyllic setting serves as a reminder of the hope and potential lost in their lives, juxtaposing the mundane realities of everyday existence with fleeting moments of joy.

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Slouching Towards...
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Other quotes in Slouching Towards Bethlehem

I hurt the people I cared about, and insulted those I did not. I cut myself off from the one person who was closer to me than any other. I cried until I was not even aware when I was crying and when I was not, cried in elevators and in taxis and in Chinese laundries, and when I went to the doctor he said only that I seemed to be depressed, and should see a "specialist." He wrote down a psychiatrist's name and address for me, but I did not go.
Joan Didion Slouching Towards...
I hurt the people I cared about, and insulted those I did not. I cut myself off from the one person who was closer to me than any other. I cried until I was not even aware when I was crying and when I was not, cried in elevators and in taxis and in Chinese laundries, and when I went to the doctor he said only that I seemed to be depressed, and should see a "specialist." He wrote down a psychiatrist's name and address for me, but I did not go.
I have already lost touch with a couple people I used to be.
Joan Didion Slouching Towards...
I have already lost touch with a couple people I used to be.
What kind of magpie keeps this notebook?
Joan Didion Slouching Towards...
What kind of magpie keeps this notebook?
Everything that was said to me I seemed to have heard before, and I could no longer listen.
Joan Didion Slouching Towards...
Everything that was said to me I seemed to have heard before, and I could no longer listen.
The day's events did not turn on cracked crab. And yet it is precisely that fictitious crab that makes me see the afternoon all over again, a home movie run all too often, the father bearing gifts, the child weeping, an exercise in family love and guilt. Or that is what it was to me. Similarly, perhaps it never did snow that August in Vermont; perhaps there never were flurries in the night wind, and maybe no one else felt the ground hardening and summer already dead even as we pretended to bask in it, but that was how it felt to me, and it might as well have snowed, could have snowed, did snow.
Joan Didion Slouching Towards...
The day's events did not turn on cracked crab. And yet it is precisely that fictitious crab that makes me see the afternoon all over again, a home movie run all too often, the father bearing gifts, the child weeping, an exercise in family love and guilt. Or that is what it was to me. Similarly, perhaps it never did snow that August in Vermont; perhaps there never were flurries in the night wind, and maybe no one else felt the ground hardening and summer already dead even as we pretended to bask in it, but that was how it felt to me, and it might as well have snowed, could have snowed, did snow.
I was not then guilt-ridden about spending afternoons that way, because I still had all the afternoons in the world.
Joan Didion Slouching Towards...
I was not then guilt-ridden about spending afternoons that way, because I still had all the afternoons in the world.
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Dear Ijeawele, or A...
{...} what I wish for Chizalum is the following: that she is full of opinions, and that her opinions stem from a well-informed, humane, and open mind. That she have health and happiness. That she have the life she wants to have.
«In memory of the countless men and women of all creeds, nations, and races who fell victim to the fascist and communist belief in the Inexorable Laws of Historical Destiny.»
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«In memory of the countless men and women of all creeds, nations, and races who fell victim to the fascist and communist belief in the Inexorable Laws of Historical Destiny.»
"That's a huge gamble." "We're long past the time for careful certainty."
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"That's a huge gamble." "We're long past the time for careful certainty."
When had it become so ingrained in her to apologize whenever she wanted something for herself?
Robin Hobb The Rain Wilds...
When had it become so ingrained in her to apologize whenever she wanted something for herself?
Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
Harlan Coben Fool Me Once
Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
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