The first passage that struck me as interesting, given our recent discussion topic of cultural narratives is on page 24. It begins "Then she remembered his sudden pause when he had come...as if to have the impression of a kiss". The entire dream sequence is very much a description of a cultural narrative about love and romance affecting someone so much that she is dreaming about the romance without even knowing the man very well. I thought that it was out of character, or at least a dramatic change in the mellow, almost shy character we had seen so far. I think that it is also intersting to notice the amount of attention she pays to her own looks in the fantasy, she also says that it may be a mistake to wish her eyes were blue. This echos another cultural narrative we have talked a lot about, that women always want to change their features to look like models, or whatever is considered beautifu and exotic at the time.
The second passage I chose is on page 39 and fills the enire page save for the beginning of the second paragraph at the bottom. I liked this passage because it shows changes in the character and her reflection of her own life. She talks about how she is shy and had refrained from any 'town lovemaking', yet she watches lucius harney and responds to the fact that he is the brillaince she had been waiting for and that he values her. This plays into the cultural narrative that women have to be valued like an object in the eyes of men to be worthy. It also shows the romance narrative and the hidden desires Charity has for herself and a relationship with Harney.
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I agree with your assessment of the dream sequence. Although I would add that the dreams ultimately turn out to distort her view of Harney even more. She constantly misinterprets his actions, and ends up paying for it in the end.
I agree with what you said about the beginning of the book when she day dreams about kissing him, but the part that struck me most odd was that she also unbuttoned her blouse a bit and not only imagined kissing him but walking down the aisle and marrying him! Then I also thought she's about that age that she's feeling trapped in her small town and bored with her job that this is just a sort of distraction, I thought maybe she wasn't really serious about it. What you said about her refraining from any town lovemaking, I don't think she was being hypocritical by lusting after Harney, I think she just wanted to avoid the gossip aspect of 'town lovemaking' and her is her chance to branch out and no one would know!
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