People like to see a king uncrowned, like to see a thoroughbred racehorse beaten when he's running at the top of his form and has outrun everything in sight. They wanted to see demonstrated right before their eyes that there was no such thing as invincibility, wanted to see that the king, the top dog, the best man, has a flaw, can be beaten like them, is vulnerable like them, can be defeated, unfrocked, uncrowned, knocked down, and thus brought right down to their level.

Ann Petry, The Narrows (1953)

When he finished with the front page, he straightened up for a moment, thinking that the news didn't vary much from month to month, from year to year. [...] The Democrats were peevishly blaming the Republicans for the state the country was in; and the Republicans were peevishly blaming the Democrats for the same thing.

Ann Petry, The Narrows (1953)

But those were the good girls, the ones who went to church, the ones who wanted husbands and homes and children. And they were absolutely all wrong for Link. The ones who didn't go to church were the ones with the shapely legs and the smoothbrown skins that didn't need any heavy concealing layers of powder, the ones with the artfully curled hair, the ones who didn't want husbands and children and wellkept homes. They wanted boyfriends, an endless succession of boyfriends and a perpetual good time. And they were absolutely all wrong for link too.

Ann Petry, The Narrows (1953)

She supposed the young men of Link's generation couldn't have manners like Mr. Powther's, though she didn't know why. Wars and atom bombs and the fact that there was so much hate in the world might have something to do with it.

Ann Petry, The Narrows (1953)