Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Where there must be a choice, a girl will choose Daddy. Even if you are Mommy, you concede that this must be so: you remember when you were a girl, too.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the bond between daughters and their fathers, suggesting that girls have an innate preference for their fathers during key choices.
Joyce Carol Oates highlights the complex emotional landscape of familial relationships, particularly the unique bond between fathers and daughters. This quote reflects on the idea that, in moments of choice, a girl often feels a strong inclination to turn to her father, which mothers can understand as they too once experienced similar feelings. It suggests a universal truth about the special connection that often exists between daughters and their dads, rooted in affection and support.
Themes
FatherDaughterFamilyRelationshipsBond
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech at a family reunion, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of a father-daughter relationship.
More from Joyce Carol Oates
All quotes →I never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and girlhood were spent in upstate New York, in the country north of Buffalo and West of Rochester. So this part of New York state is very familiar to me and, with its economic difficulties, has become emblematic of much of American life.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
. . . there is a wish in the heart of mankind to be distracted and confused. Truth is but one attraction, and not always the most powerful.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Similar quotes
It's easy to talk to a horse if you understand his language. Horses stay the same from the day they are born until the day they die. They are only changed by the way people treat them.
Laura HillenbrandRead
My mother had taught me about the importance of finding a 'good provider,' so when my boyfriend proposed, I said 'yes' in a heartbeat. I was still just a kid, and I didn't know what was coming in life.
Elizabeth WarrenRead
I've felt like an outsider all my life. It comes from my mother, who always felt like an outsider in my father's family. She was a powerful woman, and she motivated my father.
Anthony HopkinsRead
I turned you into a stranger in order to forget you and now I'm the stranger.
Carlos Ruiz ZafonRead
i want to hear what's happened to you," she said evenly after a while. she gestured in the direction, down river, of the butcher shop. "it's just that there is nowhere else to start," she said gently. "niether of us is the same. but i'm different because of small, good, manageable things. you're different because ... things i don't know.
Louise ErdrichRead
Of all the peoples whom I have studied, from city dwellers to cliff dwellers, I always find that at least 50 percent would prefer to have at least one jungle between themselves and their mothers-in-law.
Margaret MeadRead