-'If the star of the something-like-a-date expresses any reservations about having Toph along, she is clearly a very bad person'
Dave has impossibly high standards for the women in his life. If they do not fit his exact, cookie-cutter shape of what they should be like, how they should feel, how they should behave, they are more than just inferior to him- they are bad people altogether and don't deserve to be in his life.
-'It means that I like her less...she is misguided, self-centered and also a bad person...that's not her place and there's no coming out of that alive'
Dave wants women to say in a certain space, somewhere he can be detached from them. He seems to view women as not having any natural curiosities or feelings, and that anything he doesn't approve of is rude and unacceptable.
-'The 29 year old, an actual woman-woman'
Hierarchy of women. Concept of 'real' women and 'fake' women. Women aren't 'real' women until they are mature and perhaps are more likely to be manipulated by him, as he thinks he knows what's going on inside every woman's head. Ageism.
-'If she would be wrinkled, prunelike, sagging...I was ready to be horrified...if I had to touch her pimpled or varicose flesh'
Naive, childish, immature. Very sexist and ageist as he assumes that anyone above his own age is old, even though the woman he is dating is only 29. Extremely inexperienced and narrow-minded when it comes to the female body.
-'Marny's breasts...are kind of uneven...June looks normal.'
Wants a woman with a 'perfect' (not real) body. Lexical choice of 'normal' shows how messed up Dave's idea is of woman as he has this ideal image in his head of what a woman's breasts should look like, and anything that is not this perfect image is abnormal, weird or disgusting.
-'She is my mother, my girlfriend, my wife.'
Reminds me of the anti-rape campaign that was to do with 'how would you feel if that was your mother? Your wife? etc' Women are only important and matter if they have some relationship with you.
-'I want Toph to be her friend and make her happy'
A girl can only happy if she has a friend who is a boy/relationship with a boy. As the girl is slightly on the larger side then it is presumed that she is unhappy.
-'I was looking to score. I expected flirting. I expected attractive single mothers.'
Thinks very highly of himself. Presumes single mothers to be attractive and desperate.
Good range of key quotes and insightful points. What about his mother? His sister? In your planning, before you select quotes, consider which different angles the question allows you to take and plan to link and contrast them. Some of those quotes could be linked/contrasted to form a single, more complex point. Don't forget to attach terminology across a range of frameworks (literary and linguistic areas of focus).
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