Monica Swinton, twenty-nine, of graceful shape and lambent eye, went and sat in her living room, arranging her limbs with taste. She began by sitting and thinking; soon she was just sitting. Time waited on her shoulder with the maniac slowth it reserves for children, the insane, and wives whose husbands are away improving the world.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- A woman sits in her living room while time seems to slow down, highlighting the isolation of waiting for an absent husband.
- In plain terms
- A woman sits alone as time moves slowly, waiting for her husband.
- What can you take from it?
- Waiting often feels like time stopping for those left behind.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does waiting affect you?
- What do you do when alone?
Another view
It portrays wives solely through the lens of waiting on others.
More from Brian Aldiss
She had tried to love him.
Permalink to quote #36 An overcrowded world is the ideal place in which to be lonely.
Permalink to quote #38 In Mrs. Swinton's garden, it was always summer. The lovely almond trees stood about it in perpetual leaf. Monica Swinton plucked a saffron-colored rose and sho…
Permalink to quote #35
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