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Brideshead Revisited Friendship Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

I had seen him grow wary at the thought of his family or his religion; now I found I, too, was suspect. He did not fail in love, but he lost his joy of it, for I was no longer part of his solitude. As my intimacy with his family grew I became part of the world which he sought to escape; I became one of the bonds which held him. (1.5.206)

This makes us wonder what drew Sebastian to Charles in the first place – was it just a way of escaping his family by forming a close bond with someone else to replace them?

Quote #8

"Did you have a 'little talk' with Mummy?"

"Yes."

"Have you gone over to her side?"

The day before I would have said: "There aren't two sides"; that day I said, "No, I'm with you, Sebastian contra mundum."

And that was all the conversation we had on the subject, then or ever. (1.5.333-7)

This is the defining moment in Charles’s relationship with Sebastian; contra mundum is the only type of friendship Sebastian is willing to have (or even capable of having).

Quote #9

It was repugnant to me to talk about Sebastian to Mr. Samgrass. (1.6.119)

Once he commits to the friendship, Charles is fiercely loyal to his friend.