How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
The rest of us watched. Mr. Armistead stopped fidgeting and Mrs. Cleary's hands on her papers went still. Here were a mother and her daughter, nothing less. A mother and child—in a world that could barely be bothered with mothers and children—who were going to be taken apart. Everybody believed it. Possibly Turtle believed it. I did. (16.27)
When Taylor describes the world as one "that could barely be bothered with mothers and children," what does she mean? What earlier scenes or events from the novel might she have in mind? How does the supposed downplay of mother-daughter relationships fit in with the community Taylor has built for herself?