How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
They’d never had allowances. Momma never had any extra money at all to be able to count on to give them. So when they wanted paper or pencils for school, or shoelaces, they had to ask her, and her face got all worried until she figured out where to find the extra money. (1.65)
A dollar a week might not sound like much to you, but to a kid who’s wondered her whole life where her pencils and shoelaces will come from, it’s a fortune (okay, it was more so in 1982).
Quote #2
"I’ve got an appointment downtown next week, about getting welfare money," she said, as if the words tasted bitter. (1.102)
Voigt uses the word "bitter" in an interesting way here: she doesn’t say Gram feels bitter, although Gram undoubtedly does. Instead, she chooses a more poetic way of working the word into the sentence. So we know exactly how Gram feels, without being told as much.
Quote #3
Gram was silent, then said, "We don’t have the money."
"I wasn’t asking for money," Mr. Lingerle cried, exasperated. "Did I mention money?" (3.148-149)
Mr. Lingerle wants to give Maybeth piano lessons because he sees her talent, but he also wants the company. The Tillermans don’t see that at first, because their pride gets in the way. Thankfully, they see it eventually, and in the end win themselves an extra member of the family.
Quote #4
Gram didn’t like taking charity, Dicey knew that because Gram said so. For that matter, neither did she. But Gram had said, when she finally agreed to take them in, that that might be what they had to do. (3.178)
Gram’s acceptance of welfare to raise Dicey and her siblings, despite how much it wounds her ego, is a major sign of how much she loves them. It takes a lot of affection to make someone swallow their pride.
Quote #5
Dicey followed suit. She studied the prices. She found the three cheapest things and then looked to see what they were. When Gram asked her what she wanted, she said, "Spaghetti." (4.124)
Poor Dicey is always thinking about what other people need instead of what she wants. Her identity is so wrapped up in taking care of others that even on a special day in a restaurant, we don’t see her think about what she might actually like to eat.
Quote #6
The pen wrote: F. Nobody could live for long on meals like this, the pen wrote. The letters were straight and short, bright and thick and angry.
Dicey almost said, We did. (6.136-137)
Miss Eversleigh, Dicey’s home ec teacher, wins the Clueless Teacher of the Year award by a landslide. Also the jerkface award, but that's for another day.
Quote #7
Money worried at her the way waves worried at the shoreline, always nibbling away at the soft sand. Her money seemed to run out earlier each week. (7.26)
Dicey sees money troubles all around her, in everything she looks at. Apparently, a lack of money can color your perception of every aspect of life.
Quote #8
"You don’t go reaching out with your hand closed up," Gram said. (7.165)
Gram isn’t referring to reaching out for charity; she’s talking about reaching out for Mr. Lingerle’s friendship. But telling him they’re poor is her way of making herself vulnerable and opening up to him, which is way scary.
Quote #9
When she found Gram crashing piles of dinner plates down onto the counter and then angrily scrubbing out the cupboard with a sponge, Dicey figured the welfare check had arrived again. Whenever it came, Gram was in a bad mood for at least a day. (9.132)
Funny how getting what you need can sometimes make you feel so awful.