How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The dark spiral turned and headed toward them.
Patience gasped and clasped her hands together tightly. Mother Barker began to pray. In a muted voice, as though afraid the tornado might hear her, she prayed for deliverance. (1.7-8)
Nature might not have intentions behind its actions, but tornados are definitely a source of violence in this book. The people of Ponca City are powerless against them, and tornados rip through town throughout the book, destroying everything from cotton fields to businesses to people's minds.
Quote #2
When she looked up, she did not recognize him because his eyes were not the same. All she could remember was something someone had told her about the eyes being the windows of the soul. What was wrong with his windows, she wondered. (9.25)
Abby is still a child when Brother Jacobs rapes her. The violence he commits against her is only worse because she doesn't seem to know such darkness exists in the world—she is confused by the shift in him, though she intuits that something is terribly wrong.
Quote #3
"It is not the physical wound I worry about," said Mother Barker.
[…]
"No, it's not the physical hurt that bothers me. I look in her eyes, and I see blood on the flower of her spirit," said Mother Barker. (9.44-48)
Brother Jacobs's attack on Abyssinia doesn't just hurt her physically, it wounds "her spirit." While her body will heal with medicine and time, the invisible damage is much more worrisome to Mother Barker.
Quote #4
Every day one of them would take up the sentry of mercy, would stand gazing down with abundant compassion and assurance at the bewildered child.
When looking, each woman imagined a miracle. Mother Barker imagined the flower ceremonies of spring. Patience imagined the sparkle in a bird's throat. Mother Barker saw a fierce, abiding affection tempered by the fire flickering from the sacred shrine of her heart. Patience meditated on energy from the indelible spirit stored beneath the rich colors of her skin and hair. (9.56-57)
There are balms and shots and such to help Abyssinia's body recover from the violence of rape, but to nurture her spirit takes something else entirely. To combat the spiritual violence against her, Mother Barker and Patience hold fast to hope, envisioning it for Abby when she is at her weakest.
Quote #5
"But you haven't got me fooled. What you need is some kind of punishment. They got you laying up here in bed, treating you like you're sick. Give me a chance, I'll straighten you out. Give me two minutes alone with you, I'll fix you. We'll see just how sick you really are." (10.11)
Trembling Sally never misses an opportunity to threaten or attack Abyssinia. We explore this in more detail over in the "Madness" section, but we have to give Trembling Sally a shout-out here since she definitely pulls her weight when it comes to violence as a theme in this book.
Quote #6
One of them said, "I don't know how Brother Jacobs could hurt that innocent child."
"And his wife took it hard."
"Took Sister Jacobs a long time to choose a husband."
"See how he do her."
"She look for sun, she find shade."
"A bone-chilling shade. Near about killed her when she found out, the shock." (13.45-50)
We often think of the victims of violence as being the direct recipients, but here we see how violence impacts others, too. Abyssinia was Brother Jacobs's target, but Sister Jacobs, his wife, is wounded by his actions, too.
Quote #7
Then one day Patience got up off her knees and climbed up in the loft and brought down Strong's double-barreled shotgun. She polished its gray metal with a piece of flannel until it gleamed cold silver. She parked the long gun next to her Bible on a table by her front window. She kept the window shining clean and the curtain pulled back so that all her astonished porch-sitting neighbors could see.
Evidently word reached Brother Jacobs before he could come that way from the penitentiary. The rumor was that he never even stopped in Ponca City but headed for parts unknown on a Southern Pacific train. (15.10-11)
Sometimes just the threat of violence is enough to stave off actual violence. Patience seems to know this, and she makes quite a show of how much violence she could enact on Brother Jacobs should he come around her house ever again.
Quote #8
"But Mother Barker, you're so good. Can't some of those practices cause other folks harm?"
"Well, fact is, I haven't always been good. Old age has a way of mellowing the outrages of youth. When I was young, I used to do all kind of stuff to folks out to do me wrong."
"Mother Barker, I can't imagine…"
"I threw salt after one woman who was after my husband. Woman moved so many times from hours to house 'til she broke down the moving wagon. Salted her good. One ornery man made me so mad I rotted the teeth out of his head." (23.61-64)
Mother Barker knows how to use her folk remedies for good—and for evil. Mwah ha ha ha… Implied in this passage is the fact that while Mother Barker was responding to mean treatment, two wrongs don't make a right, no matter how much Mother Barker chuckles while recounting these incidences to Abby.
Quote #9
It was common knowledge that Willie Johnson beat his wife, Lily Norene. Sometimes he was more vicious than usual, and on those occasions she was left with another missing tooth, another scar, or some permanent disability like the twisted hand. The beatings also left her with more responsibility than she had before. In her five years of marriage to the man, she bore him five children. (27.4)
Oh man… this is some serious spousal abuse. Not only does Willie Johnson beat Lily Norene, he rapes her, too. This is "common knowledge," and yet it's gone on for years at this point. Which leaves us with one question: What should the community be doing with their knowledge?
Quote #10
Then she remembered him sneaking down here, prowling around the jars. "Last year it was the apricots. I should have known. Neglecting his own children to run away to that hussy in Lawton. How dare that man come down here stealing my canning for the lazy heifer?" (28.13)
Lily Norene realizes that not only has her abusive husband been cheating on her, he's been stealing their family's food and taking it to his mistress, too. Talk about adding insult to injury, right? If you're thinking this doesn't quite seem like violence, though, consider this: This moment sparks Lily Norene's fatal stroke. If that's not a metaphor for violence, we don't know what is.