How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[…] they decided our culture was too cluttered. They created commissions to choose the hundred best of everything: Hundred Songs, Hundred Paintings […] the rest were eliminated. […] How can we appreciate anything fully when overwhelmed with too much? (3.43)
Isn't "best" inherently subjective? We're curious how these commissions determined which cultural items were better than others. While it seems clear that Michelangelo's paintings are "better" than our stick figure drawings, it seems nearly impossible to distill thousands of years of cultural artifacts into only a hundred items.
Quote #2
"You have words of your own, Cassia," Grandfather says to me. "I have heard some of them and they are beautiful." (7.84)
So deep, Gramps. What makes art and culture beautiful is creating something new and unique, not regurgitating what's already out there. The fact that Cassia doesn't seem to realize this makes us wonder if art class in Society's school involves tracing the Hundred Paintings.
Quote #3
The Hundred Poems […] this poem is not one of them. She took a great risk hiding this paper, and my grandfather and grandmother took a great risk keeping it. What poems could be worth losing everything for? (9.32)
Well that's quite a doozy of a question, Cassia. What we see here (and more of, later on) is how culture can have such a profound effect on people that it's worth risking everything. Is it just us, or is anyone else getting visions of the Nazis destroying books and artwork?