How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
So that was it! As a young girl Aunt Belle had embarrassed her in front of her boyfriend. And Mrs. Cooper had carried that anger with her all these years, so that now it was a bitter acid she was spraying on Woodrow in retaliation. (15.26)
Talk about a long-term grudge. Mrs. Cooper is still so mad about the mean things that Aunt Belle said about her when they were both girls that she's mean to Woodrow decades later. It's just our humble opinion, but we're thinking it's time to let bygones be bygones.
Quote #8
"I mean… what… what happened to the thirty dollars you saved? That's all I meant. Did you have to spend it on something else?"
"That's none of your business!" he sputtered.
There was more anger in his eyes than I had ever seen there before. (16.50-52)
Oh geez. Woodrow is obviously holding onto some pent-up rage about his mother's disappearance and the fact that she took the money they'd saved up for his eye operation. Hopefully he can forgive her for letting him down.
Quote #9
People were good enough not to keep reminding me. It was like a black hole we tiptoed around, being careful not to go too close to the edge, or to peep into it. Sometimes folks almost let it slip, and sometimes they said it in whispers behind my back. But as long as I didn't have to hear the hard, cruel words, I could go on tiptoeing around the edge of the black hole. (18.7)
The people in town try to show Gypsy compassion because of what happened to her father. The main way they do so is by never discussing his death around her, because they know how much it would hurt her to relive that day.