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Blanche Stroeve
Mrs. Strickland is the first wife of Charles Strickland and mother to his oldest son (Robert) and daughter. A literature enthusiast, Mrs. Strickland often throws luncheons for London-based writers, though she rarely invites her stockbroker husband Strickland, as she believes the writers will find him dull and conventional—a judgment to which she does not want to expose him, as she loves him. After Strickland abruptly abandons her and moves to Paris, Mrs. Strickland is convinced that he has left her for another woman. Believing that Strickland will refuse to see her, she asks the narrator to travel to Paris in her place and beg Strickland to come home. When the narrator, on his return from Paris, reveals that Strickland abandoned his family not for another woman but to pursue a painting career, Mrs. Strickland is utterly furious with him and implicitly longs for some cosmic revenge on him. To support herself and her children, she begins a typist business. Though her business is successful, she is embarrassed to work for a living. After Strickland dies and his paintings become extremely famous, Mrs. Strickland begins leveraging his reputation to talk to art critics, making it sound as though they had a better relationship than they did.
Mrs. Strickland Quotes in The Moon and Sixpence
The The Moon and Sixpence quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Strickland or refer to Mrs. Strickland. 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:
).
Chapters 1–16
Quotes
It was obvious that he had no social gifts, but these a man can do without; he had no eccentricity even, to take him out of the common run; he was just a good, dull, honest, plain man. One would admire his excellent qualities, but avoid his company. He was null. He was probably a worthy member of society, a good husband and father, an honest broker; but there was no reason to waste one’s time over him.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Her black dress, simple to austerity, suggested her bereaved condition, and I was innocently astonished that notwithstanding a real emotion she was able to dress the part she had to play according to her notions of seemliness.
It chilled me a little that Mrs Strickland should be concerned with gossip, for I did not know then how great a part is played in women’s life by the opinions of others. It throws a shadow of insincerity over their most deeply felt emotions.
Strickland was not a fluent talker. He seemed to express himself with difficulty, as though words were not the medium with which his mind worked; and you had to guess the intentions of his soul by hackneyed phrases, slang, and vague, unfinished gestures.
Chapters 17–42
Quotes
“Women are constantly trying to commit suicide for love, but generally they take care not to succeed. It’s generally a gesture to arouse pity or terror in their lover.”
Chapters 43–58
Quotes
Here lies the unreality of fiction. For in men, as a rule, love is but an episode which takes its place among the other affairs of the day, and the emphasis laid on it in novels gives it an importance which is untrue to life […] As lovers, the difference between men and women is that women can love all day long, but men only at times.
I suppose that art is a manifestation of the sexual instinct […]. It is possible that Strickland hated the normal release of sex because it seemed to him brutal by comparison with the satisfaction of artistic creation.
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Explanation and Analysis:
“She leaves me alone […]. She cooks my food and looks after her babies. She does what I tell her. She gives me what I want from a woman.”
My Uncle Henry, for twenty-seven years Vicar of Whitstable, was on these occasions in the habit of saying that the devil could always quote scripture to his purpose.
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Mrs. Strickland Quotes in The Moon and Sixpence
The The Moon and Sixpence quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Strickland or refer to Mrs. Strickland. 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:
).
Chapters 1–16
Quotes
It was obvious that he had no social gifts, but these a man can do without; he had no eccentricity even, to take him out of the common run; he was just a good, dull, honest, plain man. One would admire his excellent qualities, but avoid his company. He was null. He was probably a worthy member of society, a good husband and father, an honest broker; but there was no reason to waste one’s time over him.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Her black dress, simple to austerity, suggested her bereaved condition, and I was innocently astonished that notwithstanding a real emotion she was able to dress the part she had to play according to her notions of seemliness.
It chilled me a little that Mrs Strickland should be concerned with gossip, for I did not know then how great a part is played in women’s life by the opinions of others. It throws a shadow of insincerity over their most deeply felt emotions.
Strickland was not a fluent talker. He seemed to express himself with difficulty, as though words were not the medium with which his mind worked; and you had to guess the intentions of his soul by hackneyed phrases, slang, and vague, unfinished gestures.
Chapters 17–42
Quotes
“Women are constantly trying to commit suicide for love, but generally they take care not to succeed. It’s generally a gesture to arouse pity or terror in their lover.”
Chapters 43–58
Quotes
Here lies the unreality of fiction. For in men, as a rule, love is but an episode which takes its place among the other affairs of the day, and the emphasis laid on it in novels gives it an importance which is untrue to life […] As lovers, the difference between men and women is that women can love all day long, but men only at times.
I suppose that art is a manifestation of the sexual instinct […]. It is possible that Strickland hated the normal release of sex because it seemed to him brutal by comparison with the satisfaction of artistic creation.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“She leaves me alone […]. She cooks my food and looks after her babies. She does what I tell her. She gives me what I want from a woman.”
My Uncle Henry, for twenty-seven years Vicar of Whitstable, was on these occasions in the habit of saying that the devil could always quote scripture to his purpose.
