Quote 1
"Call the police, they look at you like you're some kind of old dog," Lily said.
"Have you tried that?"
"No. Winnie Mae told me about the time she tried talking to the law. They think you must like getting whipped."
Abyssinia took a piece of red flannel out of another pocket and soaked it in the steeped mixture.
"Maybe that's because nobody ever beat them," she told Lily.
"Women don't ever beat men," said Lily Norene. (27.9-14)
For all of the ways in which we are shown women are powerful in this book, this moment really drives home their powerlessness on a broader social level. Instead of seeing women who are beaten by men as victims, the cops see them as somehow asking for it. Ugh.
Quote 2
Then she remembered him sneaking down here, prowling around the jars. "Last year it was the apricots. I should have known. Neglecting his own children to run away to that hussy in Lawton. How dare that man come down here stealing my canning for the lazy heifer?" (28.13)
Lily Norene realizes that not only has her abusive husband been cheating on her, he's been stealing their family's food and taking it to his mistress, too. Talk about adding insult to injury, right? If you're thinking this doesn't quite seem like violence, though, consider this: This moment sparks Lily Norene's fatal stroke. If that's not a metaphor for violence, we don't know what is.
Quote 3
Lily said, "I guess I love him even though he strays. I believe he loves me. Sometimes I look at him and the love is so deep that my knees get weak. And Abby, sometimes he's so gentle." (27.28)
To be crystal clear, Lily is talking about her husband who regularly beats the Shmoop out of her and rapes her. Because of this, instead of seeing this passage as showing what love for someone else truly looks like, we might argue that it shows how devastating a lack of self love can be. Lily Norene somehow thinks her relationship with her husband shows love when all Abby can see are cuts and bruises all over her friend's body.