How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
But when she said our house, she couldn’t help thinking about the cabin in Provincetown, up against the windy dunes; even though she knew that wasn’t their house any more. (1.77)
Dicey’s trying to come to terms with the difference between a house and a home. It'll be an adjustment period, but we're betting that soon enough, when she hears the words "our house," she'll be thinking of Gram's ramshackle farmhouse.
Quote #2
Worry was like the mist along the marsh; it rose up from the floors of the house. (3.215)
Dicey compares emotions to various forms of water a lot, like when she says money worries ate away at Momma like waves nibbling at the shore. This is another classic example, and it shows just how much the emotions of a person can affect their living environment—whether it's her mother's depression or her own anxiety.
Quote #3
"I thought we lived here," James complained.
"We do," Dicey said. "but—" (4.20-21)
But living in a house isn’t the same as belonging in it. Until Gram officially adopts them, Dicey’s still scared she’ll turn them out in the streets for exploring the attic.
Quote #4
She kind of liked the way fires went to extremes: either it was too hot or too cold. It had been the same way with the big kerosene stove they used to heat their drafty cabin back up home, in Provincetown. (5.5)
Leaving home means you’ll always compare your new home to your old one, even when the new one is way better. The trick is to make new memories in the new house. So instead of thinking of the big kerosene stove, maybe Dicey will start to think of the piano.
Quote #5
And Maybeth is better here—we all know that, don’t you, Gram? She’s not nearly so scared of things. Of people. It’s not so complicated for her here. Without Momma to worry about, and what people say. (5.230)
Dicey wants a home herself, but when she talks to Gram about it, she frames it in terms of what’s best for Maybeth. She’s been a caretaker for her siblings for such a long time, you wonder if she ever really thinks about her own needs.
Quote #6
The ocean rolled up toward her rickety cabin, like it wanted to swallow it up; but it never did. Maybe it didn’t even want to. The wind was always blowing around the cabin, like it too wanted to have that little building gone. (7.23)
In the paper she writes for English class, Dicey’s comparing her physical home to her home in Momma’s head, and the elements’ effects on their home to worrying’s effects on Momma’s sanity. This one's gonna be a good writer, folks.
Quote #7
Maybe it was because they had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. For a piercing instant, Dicey longed for Momma to be with them, sitting on the other side of Sammy, to complete the picture. That was the trouble with being happy, it made you remember other things. (8.174)
Gram’s home will always remind Dicey of her home with Momma, especially when they celebrate family occasions in a warm and familiar place. It would be hard to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner at home knowing your mom was in a mental hospital alone.
Quote #8
"It’s Thanksgiving," James reminded him. James had finished a thin slice of lattice-topped cherry pie and was about to begin on the dark chocolate sliver. "On Thanksgiving, families stay at home." (8.197)
Things are a lot simpler for the younger kids than they are for Dicey. They’re a family, and they’re at home. But Dicey knows that home and family can be complicated and temporary. She's always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Quote #9
They sang together: "Someone beckons me from heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world, any mo-ore." (8.362)
Mina and Jeff are just singing a hymn, but when you think about the call of mental illness as being similar to the call of heaven, Dicey’s take on this hymn could be a lot darker. It's as if they're singing to her about her mom.
Quote #10
That surprised Dicey. She swallowed, remembered, and nodded her head. "I saw a tombstone, once. It had—"Home is the hunter, home from the hill, and the sailor home from the sea." (10.116)
When the shopkeeper asks Dicey on the night of her mother’s death if she has a mantra, this is the one Dicey gives him. Even as she dreams of sailing away in the boat she’s restoring, she imagines death as a return to the shore.