How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
So deeply inherent is it in this life of ours that men have to suffer for each other’s sins, so inevitably diffusive is human suffering, that even justice makes its victims, and we can conceive no retribution that does not spread beyond its mark in pulsations of unmerited pain. (3.7.2)
This is probably the best thematic statement on suffering in the entire book. Suffering is a part of the human condition here, and is as widespread as it is often undeserved.
Quote #5
I share with you this sense of oppressive narrowness; but it is necessary that we should feel it, if we care to understand how it acted on the lives of Tom and Maggie - how it had acted on young natures in many generations [...]. The suffering, whether of martyr or victim, which belongs to every historical advance of mankind, is represented in this way in every town and by hundreds of obscure hearths. (4.1.3)
Once again the particular circumstances of Tom and Maggie are universalized or are linked to people more generally. Tom and Maggie are part of a classic story of young people who suffer in their "narrow" small town environments. This is also an interesting case where the narrator switches to the first person and addresses readers directly.
Quote #6
She could make dream-worlds of her own - but not dream-world would satisfy her now. She wanted some explanation of this hard, real life. (4.3.34)
Imagination can only relieve Maggie’s suffering for so long here. Perhaps this is simply part of growing up and getting older – the "hard, real life" becomes harder for Maggie to ignore as she gets older.