How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[…] even the Negro women who still take in white people's washing after the old custom, fetch and deliver it in automobiles.
But fifteen years ago, on Monday morning the quiet, dusty, shady streets would be full of Negro women with, balanced on their steady, turbaned heads, bundles of clothes tied up in sheets, almost as large as cotton bales, carried so without touch of hand. (1.1-2)
The adult Quentin, recalling his hometown at the start of the story, finds nothing unusual about the sharp racial divide of labor. He soon switches to his nine-year-old perspective to tell a story in which the power differences between white people and black people are very clear. Critics debate if Quentin learns anything about race by the end of the story, but it's fairly clear that, at least here at the start, he doesn't find it necessary to remark on Jefferson's super freaking racist division of labor.
Quote #2
"When you going to pay me, white man? When you going to pay me, white man? It's been three times now since you paid me a cent—" Mr. Stovall knocked her down, but she kept on saying, "When you going to pay me, white man? It's been three times now since—" until Mr. Stovall kicked her in the mouth with his heel and the marshal caught Mr. Stovall back, and Nancy lying in the street, laughing. She turned her head and spat out some blood and teeth and said, "It's been three times now since he paid me a cent." (1.12)
This incident illustrates the cruel power imbalance between white and black people in Jefferson. Nancy is a prostitute who can't even get paid by Mr. Stovall—a bank cashier, church deacon, and one of her customers—who attacks her pretty much with impunity when she brings up his debt. Grrr. This makes us so mad we can't see straight.
Quote #3
He said that it was cocaine and not whiskey, because no n***** would try to commit suicide unless he was full of cocaine, because a n***** full of cocaine wasn't a n***** any longer.
The jailer cut her down and revived her; then he beat her, whipped her. (1.13-14)
This is yet another illustration of the super messed up power imbalance between white and black people in Jefferson. A jailer, already a figure of power, is able to beat the suicidal Nancy and write off her troubles as drug-induced and irrational. Our faith in humanity is down to critical levels right now, ugh.