Marked by Fire Madness Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

Mother Barker examined Miss Sally carefully. She said a blackjack leaf went through Miss Sally when the big wind peeled the planks, one by one, off Miss Sally's old frame house and tossed them to the storm like brown sticks. She said the tornado took the handle off the iron tub and left the cow eyeless and gave Miss Sally the trembles.

"Not a thing more I can do," she said, shaking her head. (7.46-47)

And just like that, Miss Sally is gone, replaced by Trembling Sally. When the tornado destroys her home, something snaps inside Miss Sally and she never manages to heal, instead spending the rest of her days in madness.

Quote #2

"It tore down the Better Way?" asked Patience.

[…]

"You'd think he would have come home."

"No, he's out there babbling like a madman."

"Not Strong. Not my Strong."

"Crazy as a Betsy bug, I tell you. Your old man is crazy." (7.52-57)

Trembling Sally isn't the only one who loses her wind when the twister whips through town. Strong completely loses it, too, become a shell of his former self and skipping town without a word.

Quote #3

Abby's eyes followed the deranged woman around the room as Trembling Sally moved away from her. […]

Trembling Sally stood at the end of the bed, her eyes coals of fire. Her layers of clothes hung from her body haphazardly like the shabby wardrobe of a scarecrow.

"Wish I had a stick. I'd fix your red wagon, laying down there thinking you're so smart." (10.12-14)

Okay, so Trembling Sally has it out for Abyssinia. It isn't rational, and it isn't fair, but so it goes. Here's the thing, though: In this passage, Abby has been seriously hurt by Brother Jacobs. And yet from her distorted perception of reality, Trembling Sally sizes Abby up as a faker and promises to actually hurt her. Even when Abby's severely injured, Trembling Sally still isn't satisfied.