How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Papa says you will do […] but I don't say it. We are going anyway." […]
"Carolina is for you. Stay back" (1.5).
"Carolina" probably means North Carolina, where Thomas and his family are coming from. In the dream Thomas predicts that a Pluto-like figure chases him. This comes true. Can Thomas predict things through his dreams, or is there another explanation?
Quote #2
The legend was that two slave ghosts and the ghost of Dies Drear haunted the house to this very day. (1.22)
Thomas finds this information in the papers his father got on this house. It definitely makes Thomas more excited to move in.
Quote #3
"Did you hear the noises and see the flashing lights?" (2.27)
After Thomas reads the report his father got from the foundation and learns the house might be haunted, he imagines how the ghosts will behave. Where do you think he got his ideas?
Quote #4
All old houses have ghost legends, and they are all poppycock! (2.32)
Mr. Small obviously doesn't believe in ghosts. This sets up one of the major questions of the story: do the ghosts exist, or not? Why do you think Mr. Small gets so mad when Thomas brings up ghosts?
Quote #5
"Pesty, how many times must I tell you not to get too close to Mr. Pluto? He's going to make you disappear one of these times, and then how will I ever get you home for supper?" (4.13)
Mac is using the rumors that Mr. Pluto is a supernatural creature to try to scare Pesty into being careful, and to scare Thomas, the new kid. Notice how rumors of the supernatural are so flexible. Anybody with an imagination can add something.
Quote #6
"I'll tell him to tie you up. […] Leave you in one of the tunnels for the ghosts to play with." (4.14)
Pesty knows well that Mr. Pluto isn't going to do something like that. She's playing along with Mac's game of mystifying Thomas.
Quote #7
The thing was not the same as night. It was darkness detached from the black of the entranceway. It was solid, but it could move, and it did not hesitate. (8.81)
Eventually we learn that this darkness is a Darrow, slipping in while the Smalls are asleep. Yikes. When we read this quote for the first time, we thought it was ghosts for sure. What did you think?
Quote #8
"Some nights them Darrows forgets about me, but there will still be signs of the old man and the slaves. I've seen him! I've seen them! Then my black horse, he will run with the wind, the spirits bother him so." (14.43)
Unlike Mr. Small, Mr. Pluto definitely believes in ghosts. Could he be right? Remember he knows the Darrows have been pretending to be ghosts. The ghosts he says he's seen are different from the Darrows.