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Mayadebi
As children, Ila introduces the narrator to Nick Price through stories she tells about playing with him in London when her family lives with his. He's several years older, blonde, and has long hair. The narrator recognizes that Nick is his opponent for Ila's affection and therefore feels as though he grows up in Nick's ever more mature shadow, even though he doesn't meet Nick until they're all adults. Though Ila idolized Nick as a child and the two likely did play together, he also refused to stand up for Ila when she was a victim of racial violence. In adulthood, Nick floats somewhat aimlessly through life, coasting on opportunities afforded to him through his privilege. His sister, May, implies that Nick was fired from his last job for embezzlement. Not long after Nick and Ila marry, Ila discovers that Nick has several other girlfriends and no intention of giving any of them up. Though she decides she could never leave him, she does punish him by embarrassing him at dinner parties.
Nick Price Quotes in The Shadow Lines
The The Shadow Lines quotes below are all either spoken by Nick Price or refer to Nick Price. 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:
).
1. Going Away
Quotes
I said: I'm not meeting you for the first time; I've grown up with you.
He was taken aback.
That must have taken some doing, he said drily, since I grew up right here, in boring suburban old West Hampstead.
I've known the streets around here for a long time too, I said.
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I began to marvel at the easy arrogance with which she believed that her experience could encompass other moments simply because it had come later; that times and places are the same because they happen to look alike, like airport lounges.
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2. Coming Home
Quotes
I could think of nothing to say; nothing that would console her for the discovery that the squalor of the genteel little lives she had so much despised was a part too of the free world she had tried to build for herself.
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Nick Price Quotes in The Shadow Lines
The The Shadow Lines quotes below are all either spoken by Nick Price or refer to Nick Price. 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:
).
1. Going Away
Quotes
I said: I'm not meeting you for the first time; I've grown up with you.
He was taken aback.
That must have taken some doing, he said drily, since I grew up right here, in boring suburban old West Hampstead.
I've known the streets around here for a long time too, I said.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I began to marvel at the easy arrogance with which she believed that her experience could encompass other moments simply because it had come later; that times and places are the same because they happen to look alike, like airport lounges.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
2. Coming Home
Quotes
I could think of nothing to say; nothing that would console her for the discovery that the squalor of the genteel little lives she had so much despised was a part too of the free world she had tried to build for herself.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
