"It was time to go home, time for a drink, time for love, time for supper, and he could see the lights on the hill—lights by which children were being bathed, meat cooked, dishes washed—shining in the rain. One by one, the cars picked up the heads of families, until there were only four left."
This quote describes what Blake sees in a moment of crisis. Narrated by Blake as he is forced, essentially at gunpoint, out of the train, these descriptions of quotidian life take on tenderness, even wistfulness. In this moment, Blake stands apart from every other person on the train, both because of the emptiness of his day-to-day life and because of the unique danger he faces. This quote illustrates his social and emotional isolation.
"He looked with deep feeling at the half-filled, half-lighted coach to affirm his sense of actuality, of a world in which there was not very much bad trouble after all."
This quote illustrates the contrast between the usual normalcy of the commuter train, and the dangers of this particular train ride. Blake often seeks to comfort himself with normalcy, paying attention throughout the text to the rules of social behavior in order to adhere to expectations and protect himself. In this case, however, his coping mechanism fails: he is still in grave danger. Thus this quote exposes the fallacy of his way of life.
"Once, when she was speaking to him of what she imagined his life to be—full of friendships, money, and a large and loving family—he had thought he recognized a peculiar feeling of deprivation. She seemed to imagine the lives of the rest of the world to be more brilliant than they were."
This quote has two lessons: one, about the insecurity in Miss Dent's character, and two, about the emptiness of Blake's life. Miss Dent is clearly lonely, craving the relationships that she imagines make other people's lives whole. But she is wrong in her imaginings, at least when it comes to Blake. He has no such authentic relationships; as it turns out, even his most intimate relationships are filled with cruelty and callousness. Indeed, both characters have a pathetic quality to them, not just Miss Dent.
"Her diffidence, the feeling of deprivation in her point of view, promised to protect him from any consequences. Most of the many women he had known had been picked for their lack of self-esteem."
This quote illustrates Blake's sexism and, more broadly, his disregard for other people's feelings. His choices in sexual encounters are designed, literally, to protect him from repercussions. This reveals his true vulnerability, despite the power he exerts over other characters like Miss Dent and his wife Louise.
