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The Millionaire
A blonde-haired, “dazzlingly white” singer who meets the narrator when he is already living as a white man but still playing ragtime. He loves her voice, she loves his piano playing, and they soon begin a relationship—but the narrator realizes he has to tell her about his original racial identity, and she leaves New York for a summer when he does so, only to return and agree to marry him anyway. In this phase of the narrator’s life, his wife is the only person who knows his secret; they have a relatively happy marriage and she dies giving birth to their second child.
The Narrator’s Wife / The Singer Quotes in Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator’s Wife / The Singer or refer to The Narrator’s Wife / The Singer . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 11
Quotes
“I understand, understand even better than you, and so I suffer even more than you. But why should either of us suffer for what neither of us is to blame for? If there is any blame, it belongs to me and I can only make the old, yet strongest plea that can be offered, I love you; and I know that my love, my great love, infinitely overbalances that blame and blots it out. What is it that stands in the way of our happiness? It is not what you feel or what I feel; it is not what you are or what I am. It is what others feel and are. But, oh! is that a fair price? In all the endeavors and struggles of life, in all our strivings and longings, there is only one thing worth seeking, only one thing worth winning, and that is love. It is not always found; but when it is, there is nothing in all the world for which it can be profitably exchanged.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Narrator’s Wife / The Singer Quotes in Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator’s Wife / The Singer or refer to The Narrator’s Wife / The Singer . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 11
Quotes
“I understand, understand even better than you, and so I suffer even more than you. But why should either of us suffer for what neither of us is to blame for? If there is any blame, it belongs to me and I can only make the old, yet strongest plea that can be offered, I love you; and I know that my love, my great love, infinitely overbalances that blame and blots it out. What is it that stands in the way of our happiness? It is not what you feel or what I feel; it is not what you are or what I am. It is what others feel and are. But, oh! is that a fair price? In all the endeavors and struggles of life, in all our strivings and longings, there is only one thing worth seeking, only one thing worth winning, and that is love. It is not always found; but when it is, there is nothing in all the world for which it can be profitably exchanged.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
