How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Soon after Abby began to take her first steps, Mother Barker took her walking in the country through pastures of unfenced fields. She took Abyssinia on nature walks, hunting certain roots and leaves and specific barks on trees. She would spy a plant and say, "Abby, pull that root up." (7.3)
Mother Barker is Abyssinia's life-long teacher. When Abby's just a little girl, Mother Barker begins teaching her about the healing powers of plants, familiarizing her with what ultimately becomes Abby's life's work.
Quote #2
Sister Lightsey reached up and pulled a limb off the tree. Then she pulled another one down and began to braid the switch.
Abby backed away.
"Don't you run from me. You know if you run, you get two whippings." (6.53-55)
Sometimes you learn by reading books… and sometimes you learn by Sister Lightsey chasing you around her yard with a switch. To be fair, we're pretty sure Abby's been told before that she shouldn't hop into other people's gardens for a snack.
Quote #3
Abby scanned the newspaper for events that might be interesting to the older woman. "Mother Barker, it says here that over in Ardmore the police shot another black man. Name of Teddy Walker." (6.80)
Abby often reads the Black Dispatch to Mother Barker. Not to blow your mind or anything, but one upon a time there wasn't the Internet and people got their information primarily from these wackadoodle things called newspapers. Which leaves us with one question: Why do you think Abby reads the newspaper to Mother Barker? We're thinking it's because she can't read, and yet she's clearly learned a whole lot in her day. Education comes in all forms, yo.
Quote #4
The private lesson took an hour and required neither pencil nor paper; it was essential that Abby keep all the information in her head. Mother Barker cautioned that it was not the ingredients alone, but how they were put together that made the difference. (6.120)
Abby gets a private baking lesson from Mother Barker in which she learns her godmother's top secret recipe for her infamous pound cake. Nobody else can bake a cake quite as well as Mother Barker, so learning how to do so puts Abby in a coveted social position.
Quote #5
Abby let her voice drop two inches. "And after they wrapped her in her winding sheet, they buried her in a watery grave next to the coal-black snake. And today, in the spot where they both rested, you will find a blackberry vine. They say she is the berries, and the snake is the stickers.
"And if you want to get a Lubelle berry…
"I say if you want to eat a Lubelle berry…
"If you want to taste a Lubelle berry, you got to go through the snake." (16.101-104)
Storytelling is an integral part of socializing in Ponca City, particularly during the cotton harvest. While on one hand, this is because listening to and telling stories is fun, on the other, stories are told to teach lessons, particularly to children. The story of the Lubelle berry is one such education tale—it's a moral dressed up as a ghost story.
Quote #6
"This child that was reading to me showed me your picture in the Black Dispatch. Said you got the honors from the school."
"That's right, but that won't help me in Ponca City. There are no medical schools here." (23.13-14)
Abby has worked hard and risen to the top of her class at school—and yet despite this investment in her education, she finds herself with no nearby options to continue pursuing her studies. Well, that is, until Mother Barker makes her an offer…
Quote #7
"Abby, I'm glad you finished high school and for yourself a nice education."
"It wasn't always nice, Mother Barker." Abby told the story of her humiliation at the Christmas program. (23.30-31)
Okay, so being humiliated in high school is totally terrible and awful. But we're thinking Abby's missing Mother Barker's point here—Abby received a formal education, all the way through high school. We're willing to bet Mother Barker wasn't afforded the same given her age and when she grew up.
Quote #8
"No, there's something else I want to show you. But it's gonna take longer than one hour."
"Another recipe, Mother Barker?"
"Lots of them." (23.38-40)
Before you grab a fork, we should probably tell you that these recipes aren't for cake—they're for remedies. And so Abby's formal training with Mother Barker begins. She's been prepped for this moment since she was just a girl, but now her education begins in earnest.
Quote #9
"These here are mysteries they don't know about in the schools. There's power in you. Why, you could hit a straight lick with a crooked stick if you wanted to. And if you wished it, folks wouldn't want to meet you walking nor riding."
The old woman folded her hands in her lap and set her rocking chair in motion. She nodded her head as she rocked, stressing her agreement with the words she had just spoken.
"Why don't you just tell me the sweet part, where you do good for people?" Abby implored.
"The good part? The sweet part?" Mother Barker thought for a minute. "I got to give you the bitter and the sweet. I can't give you the light without showing you the dark." (23.68-71)
As Mother Barker prepares Abby to learn about folk remedies, midwifery, and more, she refuses to only show her the good parts—a key part of truly learning is understanding the bad along with the good. And importantly, school simply can't teach you everything.
Quote #10
After they had collected bat blood, sarsaparilla root, and pomegranate hulls, Mother Barker said, "Daughter, it won't be long before these educated doctors will be running out of medicine." (24.2)
Again we see the limits of school-based instruction—or, to be more precise, we see the limits as Mother Barker recognizes them. To her, mainstream medicine has moved too far away from nature, so it's doomed to fail.