This one’s amazing:
“(…) a wife after three years to scrutinize, weigh and compare, not from one of the local ducal houses but from the lesser baronage whose principality was so far decayed that there would be no risk of his wife bringing him for dowry delusions of grandeur before he should be equipped for it, yet not so far decayed but that she might keep them both from getting lost among the new knives and forks and spoons that he had bought–” (p. 178)
This is still Quentin’s roommate’s assessment of understanding, this being about Sutpen’s choice of Ellen, daughter of a shopkeeper as his wife when he first comes to town. The first part, simply saying that with nothing but dreams and ambition, Sutpen wisely avoided seeking a wife who would be comfortably ensconced in a status he could not yet afford. The second part, the one about “getting lost among the” cutlery is priceless: simple a reference to proper etiquette about knowing which spoon to use on the custard.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology