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Braling
Smith is Braling’s good friend and Nettie Smith’s husband. He’s about thirty-five years old and has been married for ten years. He feels suffocated by his wife, who constantly dotes on him and overwhelms him with affection. Smith craves a short “respite” from her—even just one night per month—and consequently decides to buy a marionette of his own to let him do so. However, it’s notable that Smith is willing to spend eight thousand dollars (more than half of the couple’s fifteen-thousand-dollar savings) for this short break, which suggests that he actually wishes to escape his wife more than one night per month. Smith seems like a controlling husband, seen by the way he accuses Nettie of buying a small vacation home by the Hudson River without his permission, and the implication that he’s been ignoring her dreams about the Hudson (just as Mrs. Braling impedes Braling from going to Rio). He’s also horrified when he realizes that Nettie tapped into their savings account, even though he was about to secretly do the very same thing. Even though he resents his wife in many ways, Smith knows that he should be grateful for her love and loyalty. Even though it’s been ten years, he still can’t believe that Nettie chose him instead of Bud Chapman, a man she used to like.
Smith Quotes in Marionettes, Inc.
The Marionettes, Inc. quotes below are all either spoken by Smith or refer to Smith. 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:
).
“Marionettes, Inc.”
Quotes
“What did you do, put sleeping powder in your wife’s coffee?”
“No, that would be unethical.”
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“[I’m] married to a woman who overdoes it. I mean, after all, when you’ve been married ten years, you don’t expect a woman to sit on your lap for two hours every evening, call you at work twelve times a day and talk baby talk. And it seems to me that in the last month she’s gotten worse. I wonder if perhaps she isn’t a little simple-minded?”
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MARIONETTES, INC.
Duplicate self or friends; new humanoid plastic 1990 models, guaranteed against all physical wear. From $7,600 to our $15,000 deluxe model.
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“It may be splitting hairs, but I think it highly ethical. After all, what my wife wants most of all is me. This marionette is me to the hairiest detail. I’ve been home all evening. I shall be home with her for the next month. In the meantime another gentleman will be in Rio after ten years of waiting.”
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“Thank you […] You don’t know what this means. Just a little respite. A night or so, once a month even. My wife loves me so much she can’t bear to have me gone an hour. I love her dearly, you know, but remember the old poem: ‘Love will fly if held too lightly, love will die if held too tightly.’ I just want her to relax her grip a little bit.”
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“Really, you make me feel like a criminal. You have been such a good, loving wife. Sometimes it is impossible for me to believe you married me instead of that Bud Chapman you once liked. It seems that in the last month you have loved me more wildly than ever before.”
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And then, the horrid thought. And then the terror and the loneliness engulfed him. And then the fever and disillusionment. For, without desiring to do so, he bent forward and yet forward again until his fevered ear was resting firmly and irrevocably upon her round pink bosom. “Nettie!” he cried.
Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.
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Get the entire Marionettes, Inc. LitChart as a printable PDF.
Smith Quotes in Marionettes, Inc.
The Marionettes, Inc. quotes below are all either spoken by Smith or refer to Smith. 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:
).
“Marionettes, Inc.”
Quotes
“What did you do, put sleeping powder in your wife’s coffee?”
“No, that would be unethical.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“[I’m] married to a woman who overdoes it. I mean, after all, when you’ve been married ten years, you don’t expect a woman to sit on your lap for two hours every evening, call you at work twelve times a day and talk baby talk. And it seems to me that in the last month she’s gotten worse. I wonder if perhaps she isn’t a little simple-minded?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
MARIONETTES, INC.
Duplicate self or friends; new humanoid plastic 1990 models, guaranteed against all physical wear. From $7,600 to our $15,000 deluxe model.
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Explanation and Analysis:
“It may be splitting hairs, but I think it highly ethical. After all, what my wife wants most of all is me. This marionette is me to the hairiest detail. I’ve been home all evening. I shall be home with her for the next month. In the meantime another gentleman will be in Rio after ten years of waiting.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
“Thank you […] You don’t know what this means. Just a little respite. A night or so, once a month even. My wife loves me so much she can’t bear to have me gone an hour. I love her dearly, you know, but remember the old poem: ‘Love will fly if held too lightly, love will die if held too tightly.’ I just want her to relax her grip a little bit.”
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“Really, you make me feel like a criminal. You have been such a good, loving wife. Sometimes it is impossible for me to believe you married me instead of that Bud Chapman you once liked. It seems that in the last month you have loved me more wildly than ever before.”
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And then, the horrid thought. And then the terror and the loneliness engulfed him. And then the fever and disillusionment. For, without desiring to do so, he bent forward and yet forward again until his fevered ear was resting firmly and irrevocably upon her round pink bosom. “Nettie!” he cried.
Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.
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