How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
An't it time the Lord did something, rained fire and retribution on Greenville County? An't there sin enough, grief enough, inch by inch of pain enough? An't the measure made yet? (1.72)
Wow, it sounds like some bad things have happened in Greenville County—at least, bad enough to merit otherworldly fire rain... so, pretty high on the bad scale, we're thinking. Why do you think we learn this at the beginning of the novel? And why do you think Bone is asking this rhetorical question?
Quote #2
What was the thing she wouldn't tell me, the first thing, the place where she had made herself different from all her brothers and sisters and shut her mouth on her life? (2.76)
Well, if we knew the answer to that, then there wouldn't be much in the way of conflict in this novel. We know that Anney goes through some serious suffering at the beginning of the novel, but that's just about all we know; Anney never really talks to Bone about what she's thinking. So since we can't read Anney's mind, what do we make of her suffering, based on outward evidence alone?
Quote #3
Sometimes when I looked up into his red features and blazing eyes, I knew that it was nothing I had done that made him beat me. It was just me, the fact of my life, who I was in his eyes and mine. I was evil. Of course I was. I admitted it to myself, locked my fingers into fists, and shut my eyes to everything I did not understand. (8.33)
Well, Bone's got part of this right. It's definitely true that Glen isn't angry at anything specific Bone has done; he's just angry at the fact that she exists. But we're going to call bunk on the part where she says she's evil. Remember, Bone is just a kid trying to make sense of all this, so she is trying to rationalize Glen's irrationality by coming to some irrational (and self-deprecating) conclusions.