If Nothing Will Finally Survive Of Life

America Has A History Of Political Isolation And Economic Self-sufficiency; Its Citizens Have Tended To Regard The Rest Of The World As A Disaster Area From Which Lucky Or Pushy People Emigrate To The Promised Land.

But I Think That Sometimes, When One's Behaved Like A Rather Second-rate Person, The Way I Did At Breakfast, Then In A Kind Of Self-destructive Shock One Goes And Does Something Really Second-rate. Almost As If To Prove It.

There's A Rule, I Think. You Get What You Want In Life, But Not Your Second Choice Too.

Attempts To Limit Female Mobility By Hampering Locomotion Are Ancient And Almost Universal. The Foot-binding Of Upper-class Chinese Girls And The Nigerian Custom Of Loading Women's Legs With Pounds Of Heavy Brass Wire Are Extreme Examples, But All Over The World Similar Stratagems Have Been Employed To Make Sure That Once You Have Caught A Woman She Cannot Run Away, And Even If She Stays Around She Cannot Keep Up With You. ... Literally As Well As Figuratively Modern Women's Shoes Are What Keeps Samantha From Running As Fast As Sammy.

There Is A Peculiar Burning Odor In The Room, Like Explosives. The Kitchen Fills With Smoke And The Hot, Sweet, Ashy Smell Of Scorched Cookies. The War Has Begun.