How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Can't they work?" he asked me. "Look at all the pecan trees." [. . .] "Get them off their lazy butts, they can make enough for a dozen toothbrushes in one evening." "That money usually goes to helping the family, Dr. Joseph." (7.83-84)
This heartbreaking conversation between Dr. Joseph and Grant gives us a vision of the utter lack of communication happening between the government and the people it supposedly represents. Dr. Joseph's concept of what children should be doing, and Grant's knowledge of what they are doing, are completely at odds with one another.
Quote #8
It was the kind of "here" that let you know this was hard-earned money but, also, that you needed it more than she did, and the kind of "here" that said she wished you had it and didn't have to borrow it from her, but since you did not have it, and she did, then "here" it was, with a kind of love. (22.85)
The way that Thelma Claiborne says "here" when she hands Grant the money for Jefferson's radio gets picked apart in these sentences. Grant explains all the different meanings hidden behind that one syllable: all of them are lamenting the great poverty that both Thelma and Grant live in.
Quote #9
Edwin's was not the best store in town, but it was the place where most people bought what they needed. Those with money went either to Morgan's department store or to Baton Rouge and New Orleans. (22.87)
Here we get a picture of just how widespread the problem of poverty is in Bayonne. It's not just a few people or a minority that are suffering. Grant says that it is where "most people" do their shopping, while those with money go out of town. That means that most people don't have money.