How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Then it is not my real name?" said Deronda, with a dislike even to this trifling part of the disguise which had been thrown round him.
"Oh, real as another," said his mother, indifferently. "The Jews have always been changing their names. My father's family had kept the name of Charisi: my husband was a Charisi. When I came out as a singer, we made it Alcharisi. But there had been a branch of the family my father had lost sight of who called themselves Deronda, and when I wanted a name for you, and Sir Hugo said, 'Let it be a foreign name,' I thought of Deronda." (51.63-64)
What's cool about this moment is the way it suggests that names – one of the main ways through which people assert their identity – don't matter. A family name can last for generations, tying everyone who has it to the same family line. Just as easily, though, someone can change his or her name and distance themselves from their ancestry.
Quote #8
"[Daniel Charisi] travelled to many countries, and spent much of his substance in seeing and knowing. What he used to insist on was that the strength and wealth of mankind depended on the balance of separateness and communication, and he was bitterly against our people losing themselves among the Gentiles; 'It's no better,' said he, 'than the many sorts of grain going back from their variety into sameness.'" (60.19)
Daniel's grandfather, Daniel Charisi, believed that society is best when different kinds of people understand and appreciate each other, but maintain their separate identities. The metaphor of grain going from variety to sameness suggests that having many distinct varieties is better than everyone assuming the same group identity. What does this mean? It means that Daniel Charisi thought it was preferable for Jewish people to maintain a separate Jewish race and not to assimilate entirely into Christian society.
Quote #9
"That is true," [Daniel] said, emphatically. "I have a joy which will remain to us even in the worst trouble. I did not tell you the reason of my journey abroad, Mordecai, because—never mind—I went to learn my parentage. And you were right. I am a Jew." (63.9)
Finally, Daniel has a way of explaining who he is that is brief and to the point. But is this his entire identity, or just what he considers to be the most important part of it?