How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Story.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"I felt unbearably happy all evening. The familiarity between Muriel and her mother struck line as being so beautiful when we were all sitting in the living room." ("Roof Beam" 4.6)
Again we see that Seymour can't deal with being happy – he is incapable of functioning within a normal range of human emotion.
Quote #5
"Oh, God, if I'm anything by a clinical name, I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy." ("Roof Beam" 4.13)
Remember that happiness is Seymour's primary reason for calling off the wedding. He seems to resent the sort of normal, happy life that Muriel so desires in married life.
Quote #6
Professionally speaking, I repeat I'm all ecstatically happy man. I've never been before. ("Seymour" 1.1)
Buddy will reiterate this point several times throughout the course of "Seymour." It is a particularly interesting claim in the context of Seymour's apparently paralyzing happiness in "Roof Beam." Seymour thought that happiness was a problem. Here, too, happiness would seem to stand in Buddy's way when it comes to writing this introduction.