How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
How nice everyone was to me, though, saying that I should regard them as my family and make myself at home. I believed them to be sincere, for I knew that such a thing would not be said to a member of their real family. After all, aren't family the people who become the millstone around your life's neck? (1.6).
So the thought of family (a.k.a. the "millstone around your life's neck") doesn't exactly make Lucy feel all warm and fuzzy. Dropping in this observation right at the beginning of the novel is super important because it lets us know right up front that Lucy brings a skeptical, unsentimental eye to her observations of family life in the U.S.
Quote #2
The household in which I lived was made up of a husband, a wife, and the four girl children. The husband and wife looked alike and their four children looked just like them. In photographs of themselves, which they placed all over the house, their six yellow-haired heads of various sizes were bunched as if they were a bouquet of flowers tied together by an unseen string (1.12).
Ah, one big, happy (and very blond) family. Of course, comparing these people to a flower arrangement hints that this happy image seems staged or forced which leads us to wonder how genuine it actually is.
Quote #3
I vowed that if I ever had children I would make sure that the first words out of their mouths were bad ones (1.13).
So Lucy is all about raising rebels (big surprise, right?). Her plan might backfire, though, considering that her own rebellious ways seem to be a reaction against her strict upbringing.