How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. (2)
The first thing we see Della do is cry. This might make her seem a bit fragile and over-emotional. The narrator treats this with an air of gentle humor. This behavior might be seen as stereotypically feminine.
Quote #2
But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. (5)
Della stays in the flat while Jim works. Della's really the one responsible for creating that magical sense of "home." It's that sense of home that helps define their love for each other, and makes their poor little flat seem like a special place, isolated from the rest of the world.
Quote #3
Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. (6)
Della spends much of her time thinking about Jim. This could just show how much she loves him, or it could reveal how little of a life she has outside of Jim. Is Jim equally focused on Della? Since we don't know what Jim thinks about, it's hard to tell.
Quote #4
Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length. (8)
Della again seems somewhat over-excitable here. All of her actions are exaggerated – she "whirls" and pulls down her hair "rapidly."
Quote #5
When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. (20)
Here, there's the image of an overemotional Della, who has to come down from her soaring feelings and come back to her senses. Then again, "prudence" and "reason" are presumably things she's had to use quite often before, given how carefully she saves money.
Quote #6
Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. (21)
Della's hair, her one prized possession, is something traditionally characterized as feminine. Now that it's lost, she herself looks less feminine, and more like a boy. She worries that this change will be repulsive to Jim. It's a small detail, but it suggests a larger question. How much does their relationship depend on a clear separation of traditional masculine and feminine roles?
Quote #7
She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please God, make him think I am still pretty." (24)
Della is very worried about how she'll look for Jim, much more than she cares about the loss of her hair for own sake. In her concern with her physical appearance in front of a man, she's also realizing a traditionally "feminine" stereotype.
Quote #8
White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat. (37)
Another hysterical moment from Della, who moves almost instantly from screaming joy to wild wails. The narrator calls it "feminine." Do you agree with the narrator's assessment, or do you think that such a classification is stereotyping? Note also the contrast with Jim, the "lord of the flat," who plays the role of the levelheaded comforter.