How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #13
My mother finished making my bed, and she bent over and picked me up out of my father's lap. I was fifteen years old, but the two of them handled me as if I were just born. In bed, I looked at them standing over me. I couldn't hear the rain, but it was still falling. My parents said things to each other, but I couldn't make out what they said, either. (7.8)
This is a touching scene in which Annie's parents care for her during her illness as if she is still a baby. After all the quarreling, when it really comes down to what matters in life, Annie realizes that her parents truly love and care for her.
Quote #14
Why, I wonder, didn't I see the hypocrite in my mother when, over the years, she said that she loved me and could hardly live without me, while at the same time proposing and arranging separation after separation, including this one, which unbeknownst to her, I have arranged to be permanent? (8.3)
Although she is now seventeen-years-old, the sting of what she thought was rejection from her mother is still there, right beneath the surface. Annie's choice to leave Antigua for good almost seems like an attempt to punish her mother.
Quote #15
"It doesn't matter what you do or where you go, I'll always be your mother and this will always be your home" (8.19).
This is a beautiful final scene in the book and one of the few places with actual dialogue. Even after everything that Annie and her mother have endured in their relationship, her mother remains a (sort of stifling) constant.