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Henry Morley
Princess is the first of Japhy’s girlfriends; she first appears in the book when she visits Alvah’s cottage and abruptly takes her clothes off with no explanation. She then proceeds to have sex with Japhy, Ray, Alvah, in the position traditionally called yabyum in the Tibetan Buddhist artistic tradition. Ray explains that he met and fell in love with Princess the year before, and she returns to have sex with him again later, before reappearing late in the novel at Japhy’s going-away party (where she has to compete with Polly and Psyche for Japhy’s attention). While Ray enjoys having sex with Princess, the fact that her sights are truly set on Japhy seems to prove Ray’s suspicion that Japhy is more of a man than he’ll ever be. Princess, on the other hand, seemingly has no personality besides a kind of childish, infectious joy while she’s having sex with the men, and a sad jealousy when Japhy goes off with Psyche at his going-away party. The men look down on her intellectually, while humoring her analysis of Buddhism because she’s willing to have sex with them. Unlike all the novel’s men, Ray never takes her seriously as a thinker, or as the Bodhisattva (enlightened figure) she claims to be.
Princess Quotes in The Dharma Bums
The The Dharma Bums quotes below are all either spoken by Princess or refer to Princess. 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 5
Quotes
I'm telling you she was actually glad to do all this and told me “You know, I feel like I'm the mother of all things and I have to take care of my little children.”
“You're such a young pretty thing yourself.”
“But I'm the old mother of earth. I'm a Bodhisattva,” She was just a little off her nut but when I heard her say “Bodhisattva” I realized she wanted to be a big Buddhist like Japhy and being a girl the only way she could express it was this way, which had its traditional roots in the yabyum ceremony of Tibetan Buddhism, so everything was fine.
Alvah was immensely pleased and was all for the idea of “every Thursday night” and so was I by now.
“Alvah, Princess says she's a Bodhisattva.”
“Of course she is.”
“She says she's the mother of all of us.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Princess Quotes in The Dharma Bums
The The Dharma Bums quotes below are all either spoken by Princess or refer to Princess. 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 5
Quotes
I'm telling you she was actually glad to do all this and told me “You know, I feel like I'm the mother of all things and I have to take care of my little children.”
“You're such a young pretty thing yourself.”
“But I'm the old mother of earth. I'm a Bodhisattva,” She was just a little off her nut but when I heard her say “Bodhisattva” I realized she wanted to be a big Buddhist like Japhy and being a girl the only way she could express it was this way, which had its traditional roots in the yabyum ceremony of Tibetan Buddhism, so everything was fine.
Alvah was immensely pleased and was all for the idea of “every Thursday night” and so was I by now.
“Alvah, Princess says she's a Bodhisattva.”
“Of course she is.”
“She says she's the mother of all of us.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
