How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I remember that life in that room seemed to be occurring beneath the sea, time flowed past indifferently above us, hours and days had no meaning. (2.1.1)
When people describe pleasant experiences, they often talk about how time flew. Here, David refers to time flowing. Why might he pick the image of flowing water? What in particular about David and Giovanni's experience in Paris would make it feel like time had been suspended? Hint: Where's Hella? When is she going to return? What are they both denying about the future?
Quote #8
I scarcely know how to describe that room. It became, in a way, every room I had ever been in and every room I find myself in hereafter will remind me of Giovanni's room. (2.1.1)
What role do rooms play in our lives? Why is it easy for us to associate memories with rooms? Why might it help for a memory to be contained within a room? What do all rooms have in common? What separates them? Check out "Setting" for more on this topic.
Quote #9
The newspaper told the unforgiving world how Giovanni repented, cried for mercy, called on God, wept that he had not meant to do it. And told us, too, in delicious detail, how he had done it: but not why. Why was too black for the newsprint to carry and too deep for Giovanni to tell. (2.5.31)
When the newspaper tells "how Giovanni repented, cried for mercy, called on God, wept that he had not meant to do it," it is making a show of presenting everything to the reader. The editors are trying to give the impression that this is the whole story, that it is uncensored, that they are not holding anything back. In effect, the newspapers make a show of giving all the grisly details in order to hide the fact that they are leaving out the most subtle and perhaps the most important details of the story. Is there anything wrong with this? Is this, as Hella says a moment later, the purpose that newspapers are meant to serve? How can David expect them to print what is "too deep for Giovanni to tell"?