Obasan Literature and Writing Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

He picks up several twig people from our sand village and puts them in a cluster at the base of one mountain. "These," he says, "are people. And this"—he points to the hole again—"lake. Wanna hear a story?" (21.28)

How can you not love Rough Lock Bill? When he needs to random kids in the forest, his first instinct is to tell them a story. It's a mighty big coincidence that Bill is a fellow fan of fairytales and the most honorable white person in the whole novel.

Quote #8

I am in a grade-two reader full of fairies, sitting in the forest very still and waiting for one fairy tiny as an insect to come flying through the tall grasses and lead me down to the moss-covered door on the forest floor that opens to the tunnel leading to the place where my mother and father are hiding. (22.8)

Naomi has loved stories since she was a child. Do you think that Naomi makes a distinction between reality and fairytales as a child?

Quote #9

When Germany surrenders he tacks the headline page over his bed. I am more interested in the lives of Little Orphan Annie, Mandrake the Magician, Moon Mullins, the Gumps, the Katzenjammer Kids, Myrtle with her black pigtails sticking out the sides of her wide-brimmed hat. My days and weeks are peopled with creatures of flesh and storybook and comic strip. (23.3)

Stephen is obviously not interested in this fairytale stuff. He's more interested in the real world than things that are going on in books. Why do you think that is? Is it because he's older? Is it because his personality is different from Naomi's?