How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She spoke rapidly. Agatha told me she'd asked for tuition money for the University of Wisconsin at Madison as her Christmas present. She explained how she had offered to spend her savings, which she said was enough for the first year's tuition. But still, Grandfather Bolte had turned her down flat, saying the only thing she'd get at the university was a husband, and that could be found in Placid, Wisconsin, for free. (3.8)
What do you think of Grandfather Bolte's position? Why does he feel it wouldn't be worth it for Agatha to go to the University of Wisconsin? Does Agatha want a husband or does she want to go to college? Or does she want both?
Quote #2
No, I was not in favor of Agatha's going to university, because it meant Agatha would leave Placid and me. Happily, Agatha did not speak of going again. I thought her craving for education was cured. (3.11)
Okay, that's straight-up selfish, Georgie—Georgie does tend to get stubbornly stuck on her own ideas. In her defense, she's only thirteen. Still, though, she's going to have to learn to let Agatha be if she wants to stay close to her sister long-term.
Quote #3
As I watched Agatha spin around the ballroom, I heard my neighbors bet that by the end of January, Agatha Burkhardt would be engaged to marry Billy McCabe. I hated that idea. Marrying Billy was worse than attending the University of Wisconsin because Billy planned to homestead in Minnesota. Minnesota was so far away Agatha might never come home again. (3.14)
Essentially, Agatha can't do anything to make Georgie happy other than stay in Placid forever and run the store with her. Sorry, Georgie, but that doesn't sound that great to us, either. We think Georgie needs to get a dream that doesn't involve Agatha, one that can be all her own.
Quote #4
I turned around and blurted what I'd been thinking: "When we own the store, you can leave anytime. You can do your studying. You'll have to check with me to make sure I've got help, but after that you can leave. I won't stop you." (3.33)
Wow, that's, um, really thoughtful of Georgie. The thing is, she actually thinks this is a really unselfish position. Part of Georgie's journey is to mature enough to realize that she doesn't—and can't and shouldn't—control all the actions of others.
Quote #5
Agatha squeezed my hand and began to roll over. But before she turned away from me, I started in: "It won't be so bad...A living is as good an inheritance as anyone's got. I'd make a fine partner." (3.45)
Oh, Georgie—of course you would. That's not the point. The point is that you have to let people live their own lives—even your sister. And you also need to hush and let her go to sleep.
Quote #6
I turned on her. "You can't see him. You asked me to run the store with you, remember? We made a pact."
Agatha laughed. "We did not make a pact."
"You did! You asked me to run the store with you."
Agatha frowned. "Did I?"
I huffed. "In February? The day I shot the pigeon? You said, 'We've always got the store.' You said you and I would run it. You did." (7.37-41)
We do feel bad for Georgie here. She is fighting change so hard she can't think about anything else. Agatha is never going to run that store with her, but she just can't accept that Agatha's dreams are different from hers.
Quote #7
"I don't remember any rule that says someone is yours. Agatha didn't even say she'd marry you. She didn't have to marry you. On that February day, Agatha asked me to run the store with her. She wouldn't have married you—no matter the circumstances."
Billy sniggered. "That was your plan, huh?" (10.83-84)
Georgie might want to try practicing what she preaches since Agatha isn't hers any more than she's Billy's, but Georgie is operating under the same sense of possessiveness Billy is. She just can't see it. We don't really blame Billy for laughing—he knows Agatha wasn't going to give up her dreams for Georgie any more than for him.
Quote #8
So now I knew: Billy was not out here to meet Agatha. Money was his motive. It made too much sense for me to ignore. Weren't he and Polly planning to move to Minnesota? Homesteading is nothing if not expensive. That was why Billy was traveling with me, and why Polly Barfod would not object. (11.133)
As we move through the novel, we move out of the realm of dreams and into that of plans. Billy has a definite plan now to marry Polly Barfod and to homestead in Minnesota—he's traveling with Georgie to make some money to do that. At last, we see a real endgame.
Quote #9
Then there were the last loose ends. For instance, Aunt Cleo decided to stay permanently, proclaiming she craved adventure. She said moving from New York State to the frontier of Wisconsin certainly fit the bill, explaining that people in New York didn't know what a "Wisconsin" was. Ma acquiesced on the condition that she take Grandfather Bolte's room (the biggest in the house). (21.43)
Here's another definite plan. It's solid, as opposed to the amorphous dreams we've seen through most of the novel. Things are happening; bedrooms are getting assigned. Perhaps this is the difference between a plan and a dream: Plans take solid form and start things happening, while dreams only drift around.
Quote #10
Pause a moment. Feel the air surround that moment. Push against it, and find that it truly exists. Blow on it, and see how the tiny barbs snag the wind and lift. Watch it fly.
Feather by feather, she had made her way. (23.36-37)
At the end of the novel, it looks like dreams are coming to fruition. Billy is married and homesteading in Minnesota, Georgie is working in the store, and Agatha is studying at the University of Wisconsin, against all the naysayers who said she'd never do it.