How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She smiled to herself as she remembered Strong's face the fay she told him they were going to have a child. His eyes lit up like stars. He danced her around the floor, and then sat her down carefully like she was rare, expensive, antique china. (1.41)
Here we see a sort of intersection of love. There's Patience's love for Strong, Strong's love for Patience, and Strong's love for his unborn child. Pretty sweet all around, right?
Quote #2
"Stop, stop, stop, Abyssinia! Hand me that there piece here. Yes, this is it all right." And a smile wrinkled the corners of her eyes. "This is the one, all right." She gave the child a kiss on her cotton-blossom birthmark.
And she put the plant in a rough fabric bag. Taking Abyssinia's hand, she hummed softly to herself as they struck out for home. (4.7-8)
Sometimes love shows up in grand gestures and exploding fireworks, but other time it comes through in contentedness and small moments of tenderness. It's this second kind of love we see here as Mother Barker walks through nature with Abyssinia.
Quote #3
She told herself her father loved her.
"My father loves me, my father loves me, my father loves me." She repeated the words faster and faster and faster. (7.93-94)
After the tornado rips through town and destroys the Better Way Barbershop, Abyssinia decides she needs to see her dad for herself in order to make some sense of what's happened to him. As she heads out looking for him, she bolsters herself with the constant reminder that her dad loves her. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean he isn't on the first bus out of town.
Quote #4
"What you got to understand is that every man you marry is not your husband." (20.19)
Mother Barker drops this truth bomb on the group of women gathered to mend their cotton sacks as she prepares a birthday feast for Abby. A husband isn't simply someone you marry, as far as Mother Barker's concerned; it's someone who you truly bond and connect with, who loves you as you love them. In other words, marriage shmarriage.
Quote #5
"You're the only child we have, Abby. Even if Patience did give you birth and Strong is your daddy." (24.22)
Mother Barker says this to Abby after she tells her that she and the foreman will be leaving their house to her when they die. The love she feels for Abby is deep and familial, and she wants to set Abby up for a good future.
Quote #6
"My child, there is no greater joy on earth than the joy of healing." (24.27)
As Abby completes her education from Mother Barker, Mama B tells this to her star pupil. And what is healing if not an act of love?
Quote #7
She retreated to a place by the window and watched Mother Barker pick up one of the cups, stand next to the bed, and spoon-feed the foreman. He slurped the tea thirstily. Abby smiled to herself at the picture of two old people loving their lives out. So that's what "in sickness and in health" means, she said to herself. (25.4)
The foreman is dying and Abby brings tea to him and Mother Barker, marveling at the love that flows between them as they prepare to part after spending their lives together. It's a terribly poignant chapter, so if you'll excuse us, we're off to grab some tissues to dab our eyes.
Quote #8
"Barker," she said so softly Abby had to strain her ears to hear, "you're the only husband I ever knew." (25.18)
Remember how Mother Barker says, "every man you marry is not your husband" (20.19)? Well, the foreman was her husband, through and through. That's true love, Shmoopers.
Quote #9
Lily said, "I guess I love him even though he strays. I believe he loves me. Sometimes I look at him and the love is so deep that my knees get weak. And Abby, sometimes he's so gentle." (27.28)
To be crystal clear, Lily is talking about her husband who regularly beats the Shmoop out of her and rapes her. Because of this, instead of seeing this passage as showing what love for someone else truly looks like, we might argue that it shows how devastating a lack of self love can be. Lily Norene somehow thinks her relationship with her husband shows love when all Abby can see are cuts and bruises all over her friend's body.
Quote #10
Soon the Ponca City women began to arrive. They came to join Abby in the celebration of the saving of the children's lives. They brought offerings of canned mulberries, okra, collard greens, smoked turkey, and hot pans of yeast rolls recently popped from the oven. They sat in a quilting bee circle stitching bedcovers for the orphans and listening to Abby tell how they had fled the fire and trudged through the snow to the safety and welcome of this residence that had belonged to the Barkers and which was now Abby's home. (30.6)
Here we see community love. The women of Ponca City show up in full force after Trembling Sally burns down Lily Norene's house, ready to help Abby feed Lily's daughters while they stay with her and ready to roll up their sleeves to make new bedspreads for the girls. It may not be romantic in any way, but in Ponca City, this is a form of love you can count on: The women will always show up to help their own.