How we cite our quotes: Paragraph
Quote #4
There ahead was Natchez shining. Bells were ringing. She walked on. (58)
This moment sort of feels like the clouds are parting and the angels are singing. Phoenix is not comfortable in the city nor is she empowered in the city, but the city still operates as a beacon for her because it is where she can obtain the medicine she has walked so far to get.
Quote #5
In the paved city it was Christmas time. There were red and green electric lights strung crisscrossed everywhere, and all turned on in the daytime. Old Phoenix would have been lost if she had not distrusted her eyesight and depended on her feet to know where to take her. (59)
There's no time warp between the country and the city—It's the same time of year in both places—and yet there's no mention of Christmas when Phoenix is alone on the Trace. Is the country filled with grinches? Not quite. Christmas decorations and lights cost money and take electricity. We know Phoenix doesn't have the former, and she may very well not have the latter. What reason would Phoenix have to mention Christmas? She's hardly a part of it.
Quote #6
"Please, missy, will you lace up my shoe?" She held up her foot.
"What do you want, Grandma?"
"See my shoe," said Phoenix. "Do all right for out in the country, but wouldn't look right to go in a big building."
"Stand still then, Grandma," said the lady. [….]
"Can't lace 'em with a cane," said Phoenix. (61-65)
This is where the transformation from powerful country Phoenix to helpless city Phoenix takes place. Phoenix weathers every single obstacle in the country using her own resources, but almost as soon as she arrives in the city, her resources (her umbrella cane, for instance) are no longer good enough, and she must ask for help.