"I have no country. . . my countrymen are the men and women who work against oppression -- it does not matter where they are. With them I feel at home -- we understand each other. others are foreign to me."
Marie feels a certain disassociation and disgust for her home country because of the great class inequality that she grew up experiencing. She chooses instead to identify with the oppressed around the world. She joins the Socialist Movement in New York and becomes deeply invested in the Indian Independence Movement there. Discontent with the countrymen she was born with, she chooses her own group with which to identify.
". . .It is not in keeping with the nobility of existence to keep other human beings in subjection. . ."
Marie is a firm proponent of human rights. She emphasizes the temporary nature of life and how much of a shame it is to rob somebody of such a precious resource.
"The Helens of the world are said to be hard and without desire for children. . . To me her profession seemed as honorable as that of any married woman -- she made her living in the same way as they made theirs, except that she made a better living and had more rights over her body and soul."
Marie comments upon her Aunt Helen's prostitution. She was never ashamed of her aunt; instead, she thought her aunt's professions somewhat glamorous and exciting. When compared to the injustices of her mom's own marriage, Marie thinks that prostitution is almost a more noble goal than marriage because the woman retains a great deal more autonomy and makes better money.
"Love and tenderness and duty belonged to women and to weaklings in general; I would have none of them!"
Marie is sick of seeing women being abused and neglected by their husbands. In her view weakness is the ultimate enemey and any institution -- like marriage -- which establishes a weaker party under the authority of the stronger is detestable. She doesn't want to end up like her mom, so she rejects the traditional role of women in society altogether.
