"What followed then was what invariably follows in the wake of every tortured consciousness. From what it dreads or hates, yet knows or feels to be unescapable, it takes refuge in that which may be hoped for -- or at least imagined."
After Clyde is sentenced to execution, his mind wanders in various directions and finally comes to rest upon religion. Never before had he possessed the slightest inclination to accept any religious beliefs, but, facing certain death, he returns to his upbringing. Both of his parents were deeply religious people, to the point of fanaticism. Clyde turns to faith to try and calm his desperate aversion to death. Although he chooses to believe, Clyde really just wants to be saved and would accept any promising solution offered him in this situation. Thus his conviction is disingenuous.
"Gentlemen of the jury, the individual who is on trial here for his life is a mental as well as a moral coward -- no more and no less -- not a downright, hardhearted criminal by any means."
This is Clyde's lawyer, Belknap's opening statement during the trial. His case is based around the admission that Clyde is guilty. By painting Clyde as a penitent, immoral person, Belknap is trying to lessen any extreme conclusions jurors could make which would lead to his client's vilification. He is trying to appear forthright and thus engender trust in the jury as he builds his case.
"Clyde, if I could only die. That would solve all this. And I have prayed and prayed that I would lately, yes I have. For life does not mean as much to me now as when I first met you and you loved me. Oh, those happy days! If only things were different.
Mason reads this letter from Roberta to Clyde during Clyde's trial. His dramatic delivery coupled with Roberta's emotional words produce a dramatic effect in the courtroom. Unfortunately for Roberta, her wish was granted. With a cruel irony, she seals her fate with that letter because the man she wrote to begging for death actually killed her.
"And the thought that, after all, he had not really killer her. No. no. Thank God for that. He had not. And yet. . . had he? Or, had he not?"
After Roberta drowns, Clyde swims to shore. His mind is full of conflicting thoughts and emotions. He had planned to murder Roberta, and she had essentially begged to die, but Clyde hadn't actually done the deed. She had drowned accidentally. Unsure whether because he had made plans and every intention of following through with them but was prevented from executing them he was responsible for her death or not. Certainly he would have killed her if she hadn't died before he was able to do so. Still, he hadn't murdered her exactly.
"Titus Alden was one of that vast company of individuals who are born, pass through and die out of the world without ever quite getting any one thing straight. They appear, blunder, and end in a fog."
This description of Roberta's father serves to explain her own position in life. She is a product of her father and his life choices. Unable to distinguish himself either financially or through intelligence, Alden died in anonymity and financial instability. He too, however, was merely the product of his own father, a farmer. Whatever he accomplished was in line with what was expected of him based upon his life position from birth.
"For to say the truth, Clyde had a soul that was not destined to grow up. He lacked decidedly that mental clarity and inner directing application that in so many permits them to sort out from the facts and avenues of life the particular thing or things that make for their direct advancement."
The narrator describes Clyde at twenty-years-old as an immature, lazy individual. If his ambition had equalled the next fellow's, he would have grown up more, but, as is, he would never truly adapt to adulthood. In a sense, Clyde is waiting for some outside force to direct him. Unfortunately, that makes him a terribly impressionable person who could be made into any sort of human based upon what sort of influences he runs into over the course of his lifetime.
"His life should not be like this. Other boys did not have to do as he did."
This is what Clyde muses when he is drug around by his parents on their various evangelical missions throughout Kansas City. He possesses an immense sense of entitlement. When he thinks of himself, he only wallows in self-pity. Without any respect for his parents he can easily blame them for everything he thinks is wrong about himself or his circumstances. Clyde has no sense of responsibility and is psychotic in the purest sense of the word.
