How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
One corner of which was a day-labor gathering site, meaning Mexican and Guatemalan men would stand around on the empty lot hoping to get a day's work digging trenches, moving furniture, hauling firewood, or picking fruit. The men stared intensely into every car, hoping to win you over before you stopped. Pick me, their faces said. (3.2)
The day laborers want so badly to work, but they don't have jobs. Even harder, they don't have any hope of getting a legit job since most of them are undocumented. Pearl might see these workers every day on the way to school, but she lives in a different world from them.
Quote #2
The illegal ones worked seven days a week for years at a stretch, saved their money, then went home for about eight months to be with their families. Every time they went home, they had to borrow money to pay coyotes who smuggled them back in. (4.12)
Early on, Pearl describes the different types of people that live in Fallbrook. While Pearl realizes that many of the undocumented workers are very poor, she doesn't really understand what this means. In fact, she doesn't fully grasp the situation until she starts spending more time with Amiel and sees what it is like for him to live in the woods first hand.
Quote #3
"Isn't this the greatest?" I said. "It's like your tree house, only with found stuff. Like a fort you can really live in." "The hobo really has been living it up out here," Robby said, and I could tell he didn't think it was the greatest. (16.54)
It's easy for Pearl to get excited about Amiel's homemade shack in the woods since she doesn't live there. Her glee at discovering his home helps us understand how Amiel lives and eats day to day. It's clear that he has to work hard just to survive in a way that Pearl has never had to think about.
Quote #4
I was worried, too, about how he would keep a wound clean when he lived without a faucet. I knew I couldn't tell my aunt Agnès, or anyone else, that we needed to deliver Amiel to his camp on the river, but I couldn't stop myself from interfering, either. (22.23)
After Amiel hurts his hand, Pearl worries about whether he will be able to wash and dress it out in the woods. Much as she wants to help, though, Amiel wants to take care of the situation himself instead of letting his boss handle everything. He might be poor, but he's self-reliant.
Quote #5
"She tried to tell me that the tortoise cannot live with the parakeet." (23.12)
Agnès uses a little story (surprise, surprise) to talk about Amiel and Pearl's relationship. According to her, two different animals (or people from different classes, in this case) can't be together. Amiel is a homeless day laborer, and Agnès thinks that means he shouldn't be with Pearl. Ever.
Quote #6
For fifteen years, I worked ten hours a day. I did work I hated because that was my role: to earn the money that paid for everything everyone wanted. It was her job to—well, I wouldn't really call it a job. It was more like a lot of hobbies that she treated as if they were jobs, even though none of them earned a dime. (25.43)
Pearl's dad's description of his life before he left sounds like a lot of hard work. But you know what? That's life. Now his wife and child live in poverty—or at least at the mercy of Hoyt—because he couldn't stand to keep working and supporting them without being happy.
Quote #7
Sunlight made everything look new and hopeful. "Number two was the bridge to poverty," Robby said, (37.29)
When Robby describes where he took Mary Beth on date, Hoyt is a little surprised to say the least. There are other names for the bridge, but Robby thinks calling it out as a bridge to poverty most accurately describes it. There is a lot of poverty in Fallbrook, but no one wants to talk about it very much.
Quote #8
The answer was too long to write, so he whispered, "My father sent my mother money until I had four years, but then he stopped." (38.7)
Amiel's dad lived in the U. S. last time he checked. He used to send money, but then he stopped suddenly, which is when things went from bad to worse for Amiel. In many ways, he and Pearl share a similar family situation insofar as they are both dealing with poverty after being abandoned by their dads.
Quote #9
"It's like we're hobos," I said. "Picking through the trash." I waved, and the passengers looked away. (55.15)
After the fire, Pearl points out that everything has come full circle. She used to show her dad the so-called hobos on the side of the road, and now she and her mom are homeless themselves. Their destitute situation makes her think of Amiel, too, who has dealt with being homeless for a lot longer than they have.
Quote #10
I proposed moving out of town. "Like we could afford to move," she said. (56.4)
Pearl's mom is always the first to point out their money troubles. We can't imagine losing everything in a fire, but she focuses more on the poverty aspect than anything else. You'd think with her brother being dead from the fire and all that she'd have a sense of perspective.