Commentary Of John Steinbeck's 'Quotes From Porter'

The passage starts out with a quote from the porter. The first part of the quote states, “God protect me. O lady, slay me not for another’s sin.”(103). When simplifying this, the porter is actually begging for forgiveness from the woman. He is explaining how he should be forgiven, because it is not his sin therefore he does not deserve to be punished. The next part of the porter’s quote states, “All these men have sinned and offended, except me. By God, we had a delightful day.”(103). In this section the porter is again explaining that he has not sinned and that he is the only man that has not offended her. The very next sentence the porter is showing his frustration. Just by the tone of the sentence, one can tell he is beginning to get frustrated

The last part of the porter’s quote he states, “If only we could have escaped these one-eyed dervishes, whose entrance into any city blights, destroy it, and lays it waste.” This part of the porter’s quote is making the excuse that if they would have gotten away from the other women that things would be

The first line of the verse begins to say that men are almighty and because of that it is only fair they are forgiven. The second line goes “And fairest when to weakest men ’tis shown.”(103). What the author is trying to get across is that the porter is implying that a man in him weakest state is shown to be vulnerable, which means he is even more deserving of forgiveness, because of his suffering. The next part of the verse goes “Break off not the first friendship for the last,” (103). With this the author is showing that the porter is telling the lady not to ruin the friendship and bond they had created, just based on someone else creating a problem. He emphasizing the importance of the experience they have created before any conflict arose. The porter is trying to get the lady to forgive him based on who she has created a friendship with and who she has bonded with. This part of the verse goes along with the next. This part of the verse goes, “By the bond of the love that between us has grown.”(103). Again the author is trying to get across that the porter is trying to manipulate the woman into remembering the bond they have created to win her