How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
She sighed and picked up her knitting. "I must be madly in love. You saw us together. Do you think I'm madly in love?" (5.18).
Mag's love for José is not something she's confident in or sure about. She needs reassurance from Holly that she's actually in love, which tells us that maybe she doesn't really love José after all. Is true love something we have to convince ourselves of?
Quote #5
"Doc really loves me, you know. And I love him. He may have looked old and tacky to you. But you don't know the sweetness if him, the confidence he can give to birds and brats and fragile things like that. Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot" (10.3).
Holly's love for Doc is pretty complicated. On the one hand, it's kind of selfish on Holly's part because Doc makes her feel better about herself. But she's also very giving, in a way, because she feels indebted to Doc for all he's done for her. This love is about the give and take between a couple.
Quote #6
For I was in love with her. Just as I'd once been in love with my mother's elderly colored cook and a postman who let me follow him on his rounds and a whole family named McKendrick. That category of love generates jealousy, too (11.1).
The narrator's love for Holly is hard to pin down. He likens it to the other times in his life when he has felt great affection for people who were kind to him. But he also admits to feeling jealous when it comes to Holly, and this suggests there's indeed something more than affection going on. He is in love with her – he doesn't just love her.