Mona Character Analysis in Tropic of Cancer

Mona is Henry’s estranged wife. She came to visit him for a period in Paris before the novel begins, during which their love was ecstatic. Though it is not fully explained, it seems that they returned to the U.S. and that she stayed there when Henry came back to Paris. He awaits her arrival, but she never comes. Her memory still pierces him from time to time.

Mona Quotes in Tropic of Cancer

The Tropic of Cancer quotes below are all either spoken by Mona or refer to Mona . 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:

Literature and Artistic Freedom Theme Icon

).

Now and then, it's true, I did think of Mona, not as of a person in a definite aura of time and space, but separately, detached, as though she had blown up into a great cloud-like form that blotted out the past. I couldn't allow myself to think about her very long; if I had I would have jumped off the bridge. It's strange. I had become so reconciled to this life without her, and yet if I thought about her only for a minute it was enough to pierce the bone and marrow of my contentment and shove me back again into the agonizing gutter of my wretched past. For seven years I went about, day and night, with only one thing on my mind — her.

Related Characters: Henry Miller (speaker), Mona

Page Number and Citation: 143

Explanation and Analysis:

The sun is setting. I feel this river flowing through me – its past, its ancient soil, the changing climate. The hills gently girdle it about: its course is fixed.

Related Characters: Henry Miller (speaker), Fillmore , Ginette , Mona

Page Number and Citation: 256

Explanation and Analysis:

Mona Quotes in Tropic of Cancer

The Tropic of Cancer quotes below are all either spoken by Mona or refer to Mona . 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:

).

Now and then, it's true, I did think of Mona, not as of a person in a definite aura of time and space, but separately, detached, as though she had blown up into a great cloud-like form that blotted out the past. I couldn't allow myself to think about her very long; if I had I would have jumped off the bridge. It's strange. I had become so reconciled to this life without her, and yet if I thought about her only for a minute it was enough to pierce the bone and marrow of my contentment and shove me back again into the agonizing gutter of my wretched past. For seven years I went about, day and night, with only one thing on my mind — her.

Related Characters: Henry Miller (speaker), Mona

Page Number and Citation: 143

Explanation and Analysis:

The sun is setting. I feel this river flowing through me – its past, its ancient soil, the changing climate. The hills gently girdle it about: its course is fixed.

Related Characters: Henry Miller (speaker), Fillmore , Ginette , Mona

Page Number and Citation: 256

Explanation and Analysis: