The vainglorious presence of Marilyn Monroe is placed alongside the subdued countenance of Mother Theresa, Che Guevara glares vehemently in opposition to the pacifistic visage of Mahatma Gandhi.
They are condemned for their gluttony, criticised for their vanity, manipulated for their insecurity and also blamed for the flab on their husbands and children.
In Eustacia's eyes, too, it was an ample sum—one sufficient to supply those wants of hers which had been stigmatized by Clym in his more austere moods as vain and luxurious.
I realized seriousness for seriousness sake was its own kind of trophy, and a dubious one, a pose I sought to counter some half-imagined argument about who I was.