How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
My brother Joey—Joe—had been taken on by the Civilian Conservation Corps to plant trees out west. That left me, Mary Alice. I wished I was two years older and a boy. I wished I was Joey. (P.8)
Poor Mary Alice feels slighted because she's a girl, and therefore can't go off to serve in the Civilian Conservation Corps like all the young men who are out of jobs. She has to sit pretty and wait for the recession to end. Do these sorts of circumstances still exist, or today would Mary Alice be able to pursue all of the same options as a same-aged boy?
Quote #2
You couldn't call her a welcoming woman, and there wasn't a hug in her. She didn't put out her arms, so I had nothing to run into.
Nobody had told Grandma that skirts were shorter this year. Her skirttails brushed her shoes. I recognized the dress. It was the one she put on in hot weather to walk uptown in. (1.7-1.8)
Grandma Dowdel isn't exactly the most feminine woman in the world. She's not big on outward affection, and she usually wears out-of-date dresses or her dead husband's clothes—not exactly a runway look.
Quote #3
Grandma lunged. As big as the cobhouse doorway, she surged through it. Moonlight struck her snow-white hair, and she looked eight feet tall. She'd have given a coroner a coronary. As the fallen boy raised his dazed head, she turned the pan of glue over on it. The glue was cool now and would set later. (2.29)
You don't want to mess with Grandma Dowdel. She may be an old lady in outdated clothes, but she's a force to be reckoned with if you intend on messing with her privy. She shows those teenage hooligans who's boss when they show up on Halloween.