How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[Chick] and his family just scratched a living. His wife was dead, but he had five daughters and all summer he had them out picking berries or hunting ginseng while there was still a market for it. He raised some chickens, kept a stringy little cow that gave milk in small amounts for a few months whenever she happened to have a calf. None of them had much more clothes that those they carried on their backs, but Chick seemed a happy man. He was free to do whatever he fancied, which was mostly nothing, and there was no rent to pay on any of those tumbledown houses. (1.4)
Tom comes from a line of men who leave the hard work of life up to others while they do as they please. This is the model of masculinity Tom works against in the book. He doesn't want to be this kind of man, and it's hard to blame him.
Quote #2
Nob Dolan proved to be as shiftless as [Polly Ann's] father had been, and almost right away she was working to keep her new home together, just as she had tried to do in the Hannaberry family. As soon as Nob found out how well she could manage […] he started leaving everything to her. He didn't just go off fishing or hunting rabbits the way her father had. He spent his time circulating among the bars and taverns, using up his money while his small buildings ran down. He turned out to be just about a total no-good. (1.18)
Like father, like husband? In this case, that about sums it up. But on top of rambling around while others do his work, Nob is off drinking, too. If you pay close attention, men's drinking habits are mentioned several times, and it's not exactly presented as the best of habits. It's usually linked to a rowdy, lazy, or self-indulgent type of male character. Say nope to the Nob.
Quote #3
He was still too small to hold the [milking] pail between his knees. He had to set it on the barn floor. But he would bore with his forehead into the soft side of the cow and feel as if he had taken a step towards being a man. (2.8)
Even as an eight-year-old boy, Tom is already on a path to manhood markedly different than his father's and grandfather's. He feels that work is an important part of being a man—or really a human, since it's his mom who shows him the ropes. His dad and gramps…not so into that.