How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Wilhelm said, "But this means that the world is full of murderers. So it's not the world. It's a kind of hell.
"Sure," the doctor said. "At least a kind of purgatory. You walk on the bodies. They are all around. I can hear them cry de profundis and wring their hands. I hear them, poor human beasts. I can't help hearing. And my eyes are open to it. I have to cry, too." (4.100)
Tamkin may be a crook and a liar, but Wilhelm is drawn to him because the doctor seems to understand what it means to feel miserable. Wilhelm feels like one of those "poor human beasts," crying and wringing their hands, and Tamkin may be just the comforting companion he's been craving for so long. We're not sure if this makes Tamkin a nice guy, or even more despicable than we thought.
Quote #5
So? I took a gamble. It'll have to be a miracle though, to save me. My money will be gone, then it won't be able to destruct me. He can't just take and lose it, though. He's in it too. I think he's in a bad way himself. He must be. I'm sure because, come to think of it, he sweated blood when he signed that check. But what have I let myself in for? The waters of the earth are going to roll over me. (4.129)
Like the men and beasts who didn't make it onto Noah's Ark, or like the army covered over by the waves as Moses lead his people out of Egypt, Wilhelm is drowning is a sea of cares. Although he needs to believe that he and Tamkin are in this together, deep down, he feels that his ruin will be his, and his alone.
Quote #6
And was everybody crazy here? What sort of people did you see? Every other man spoke a language entirely his own, which he had figured out by private thinking; he had his own ideas and peculiar ways. If you wanted to talk about a glass of water, you had to start back with God creating the heavens and the earth; the apple; Abraham, Moses and Jesus; Rome, the Middle Ages; gunpowder; the Revolution; back to Newton; up to Einstein; then war and Lenin and Hitler. (5.36)
Even in a city of millions where Wilhelm is surrounded by all kinds of people every single day, sympathetic communication seems impossible. People are so different from one another that it takes a huge amount of effort just to have a simple conversation. And this was before we had smartphones, mind you.