How we cite our quotes: Paragraph
Quote #7
[Dee] stoops down quickly and lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me. She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included. When a cow comes nibbling around the edge of the yard she snaps it and me and Maggie and the house. (22)
Hmmm… so it turns out our narrator was wrong that Dee would want to tear the house down. Au contraire—she thinks the place is actually the perfect backdrop for her Kodak moment. Why do you think it's so important for Dee to make sure that the house, in particular, is in these pictures?
Quote #8
Wangero, though, went on through the chitlins and corn bread, the greens and everything else. She talked a blue streak over the sweet potatoes. Everything delighted her. Even the fact that we still used the benches her daddy made for the table when we couldn't afford to buy chairs. (45)
The narrator's language subtly hints that Dee is someone who takes a lot from this home: she wolfs down food, talks a blue streak and demands everyone's attention, and starts setting her eye on the loot she wants. But she doesn't give back much (unless giving back includes insulting the people who live there, because she's awesome at that).
Quote #9
After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to the trunk at the foot of my bed and started rifling through it. Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan. Out came Wangero with two quilts. (55)
Geez, didn't Dee learn the word privacy at her fancy school? Dee's lack of respect for her mother's space especially plays up the contrast between her and the narrator. The narrator, we'll remember, seems to respect Dee's privacy so much that she doesn't even ask if she and Hakim-a-barber got married.