How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)
Quote #10
That is why I have no class, Dolly: I come straight out of the heart of the whole people. If I were middle-class I should turn my back on my father's business; and we should both live in an artistic drawing room, with you reading the reviews in one corner, and I in the other at the piano, playing Schumann: both very superior persons, and neither of us a bit of use. Sooner than that, I would sweep out the guncotton shed, or be one of Bodger's barmaids. Do you know what would have happened if you had refused papa's offer? (3.420)
Barbara has finally come around to her mother's view that she must act in a way that matches her class position. However, in defiance of her mother's values, she's using that realization to justify being okay with her dad's business (and the fact that Dolly is joining it).