The First Part Last Duty Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Was fatherhood what I thought it would be? Was the responsibility of a baby getting to be too much? Was my mother helping? My father? The other baby's grandparents? (13.10)

When Bobby visits his neighbor Coco to see if she'll watch Feather for the day, she chats him up and asks him these questions. How would Bobby most likely respond? Is the responsibility too much, and is it worth it for him?

Quote #5

Pretty soon he's going to have to look inside the carrier and make up a face for the kid if it's gonna be following him all over the damned place anyway.

He's going to have to see it. (15.23-24)

The dream-like sequence of Bobby's mural on the wall is kind of a big deal. The carrier is following the ghost boy with or without the ghost boy's permission. In seeing the face of the baby, Bobby is acknowledging his responsibility to it. For more on this, check out the "Symbols" section.

Quote #6

And right now, besides a gurgling stomach and the look I know my mom is going to give me along with the hell, I feel worse because I'm taking my dad's smile and probably some more things he'll never talk about. (17.42)

Here's one marker that Bobby is growing up: He feels horrible not because he got caught, but because he's hurt the people he loves the most. Love can be kind of a burden sometimes, even though it encourages us to do the right thing.