How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Shakespeare's The Tempest?" Baby Kochamma persisted.
All this was of course primarily to announce her credentials to Margaret Kochamma. To set herself apart from the Sweeper Class. (6.103-104)
One of Baby Kochamma's trademark personality traits is the way she's constantly trying to control how others perceive her. She's always trying to impress people she considers to be "better" than her, like Margaret Kochamma, or to prove her superiority to those she considers inferior. Here she tries to show Margaret Kochamma that she's well-read and educated.
Quote #5
On the front of the book, Estha had rubbed out his surname with spit, and taken half the paper with it. Over the whole mess, he had written in pencil Un-Known. Esthappen Unknown. (His surname postponed for the Time Being, while Ammu chose between her husband's name and her father's.) (7.16)
On the surface, this moment simply tells us that Estha doesn't have a last name. (Ammu hasn't decided whether to give him her ex-husband's or her father's name.) But the significance of Estha's erasure runs a little deeper. Family names tell us who a person is in terms of who they belong to. Estha's unknown last name characterizes him as a person who doesn't seem to belong anywhere.
Quote #6
Rahel never wrote to him. There are things that you can't do – like writing letters to a part of yourself. To your feet or hair. Or heart. (7.62)
Rahel's inability to write to Estha shows us to what extent their identities are wrapped up in each other. Writing to him would be like writing to herself.