How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Nob's my pa, but we ain't seen anything of him in eleven years. We get along without him. He wasn't much use afore he left, anyway." Then he straightened his back, facing both men. "And if it comes to that my grampa wasn't much for doing work, either. Ma's the only one who's ever worked hard in our family. I figure it's time I got a job, too." (8.28)
Way to show 'em what's what, Tom. When Tom asks for a job at the mill, he makes it clear that he's nothing like the other men in his family, and he points out that he's learned about hard work and responsibility from his mom. If you thought those qualities were all for men, this book tells you otherwise. Does that mean the book is saying that Tom's mother displays certain masculine qualities in her character? Or is it suggesting that some qualities are good to have regardless of gender?
Quote #5
He felt as if he belonged there at Ackerman and Hook's mill. He had never had the feeling of belonging in a place with grown men before. (9.16)
Tom had very few male influences in his life before he started working at the mill. Besides visits with Birdy and occasional interactions with male neighbors, Tom has spent most of his childhood with his mom and his sisters. He didn't seem to mind, but the new sense of belonging is an extra boost on his path.
Quote #6
Tom admired the way Mr. Hook nodded, crossed the barroom to the indicated door, knocked, and walked right in. Joe Hemphill was sitting at one end of the dining table and opposite were the Coroner and the Sheriff. Tom could tell which was which because the Sheriff wore a gray flannel shirt and had his badge pinned to a breast pocket of it. Only it seemed to Tom as if a small, ordinary like him ought to have changed jobs with the big fat man beside him. Dr. Considine [the coroner] had gray hair and red cheeks and wore a dark-blue suit with a heavy watch chain that barely made it from one pocket of his waistcoat to the other. If he wasn't the biggest man Tom had ever seen, he was the fattest. (23.9)
During the inquiry into Mrs. Breen's death, Tom gets a look at several types of men he's never dealt with before: the clerk at the hotel, the Coroner, the sheriff, and later, the undertaker. These dudes give Tom a glimpse of lifestyles he's never witnessed before. A poor country boy would have no experience with a life that provides extra time and money to indulge in food and drink as much as Dr. Considine does.