Find the perfect quote to float your boat. Shmoop breaks down key quotations from One Crazy Summer.
Race Quotes
The last thing Pa and Big Ma wanted to hear was how we made a grand Negro spectacle of ourselves. (1.5)
Friendship Quotes
The snappy Negro lady had been nice enough to smile but hadn't returned the look that Big Ma expected—and Big Ma had expected the look Negro people silently pass each other. She'd expected this s...
Youth Quotes
Now, I had to see the bridge. How many times would I be this high up and have a sight as spectacular as the Golden Gate Bridge right underneath me? (2.19)
Abandonment Quotes
I can't say I blamed Big Ma for feeling the way she did. I certainly didn't forgive Cecile. (1.14)
Prejudice Quotes
Big Ma turned her nose up at the college girls with Afros in favor of the Negro lady in the square sunglasses and snappy suit toting the equally snappy oval bag. (1.23)
Identity Quotes
Big Ma—that's Pa's mother—still says Cassius Clay, Pa says Muhammad Ali or just Ali. (1.8)
Art and Culture Quotes
"My poems aren't about that. Fame-seeking poems. They's the people's art," although yesterday she didn't want to have anything to do with "the people." (12.24)
Memory and the Past Quotes
A flash of memory told me Cecile wasn't one for kissing and hugging. I had a lot of those memories clicking before me like projector slides in the dark. Lots of pictures, smells, and sounds flashin...