Other Voices, Other Rooms The Supernatural Quotes

The twin sisters, Idabel and Florabel, talk about the devil as though they knew him personally. Their casual chatter indicates that the presence of the devil is part of everyday life for them. Florabel's accusation, that the devil is inside of Idabel, could mean a couple of things: one, that Idabel is truly, ultimately evil in her sister's eyes or, two, that talk about the devil isn't all that serious.

When Florabel and Idabel disappear into the night, Joel could almost fool himself into thinking that they had never been there. Comparing the girls to apparitions (a fancy word for ghosts) creates a sense of eeriness that's very common in the Southern Gothic genre, and also alerts the reader (that would be you, Shmooper) that things might not all be as they seem.

While the devil, in Florabel and Idabel's banter, is not so scary, the "dream demon" that haunts Joel's sleep seems much more sinister. We know at this point that Joel's mother has recently died, so it wouldn't be surprising if he were suffering from nightmares. This tiny little turn of phrase clues us in to Joel's dark inner life.

Okay, Shmoopeteers, we've been getting pretty grim with all this supernatural stuff, but Zoo is here to remind us that if the devil is walking around and popping up in conversation, so is the Lord. This ultimate fight between good and evil has a relevant, important role in the characters' day-to-day lives.

Zoo's prayer, that her horrible, murderous husband be punished for his violent crime against her, reveals that she's playing the long game. She's basically powerless—impoverished, black, a woman—so she can't really get her revenge. So instead she looks for cosmic vengeance in the form of a nasty reincarnation.

Miss Amy's racist remarks are crazy-offensive, but they do tell us something interesting about the society she lives in. She lumps all of Zoo's beliefs in the supernatural in with her race, as though only black people believed in souls and possessions. But we know that Florabel says her sister is inhabited by the devil, so this is a stereotype that doesn't hold up.

The constant references to ghosts makes it easy to shrug off strange sights in and around Skully's Landing. If you can't explain something, just chalk it up to spirits. At least, that's what Randolph tries to do. But he can't convince Joel that the lady in the window was a ghost. If ghosts are an option for Joel (and we know they are because he thought the twins might be), then he must be really sure that she wasn't.

Randolph talks in riddles, and this is a big one. He's talking about the "queer lady" in the window, and it seems strange that he would say that she's a ghost to him because of his viewpoint, and that he knows her well. If we believe that the lady is Randolph in a wig, then it's as though a feminine part of himself has died and comes back to haunt him.

Little Sunshine makes a living out of dealing in the supernatural, selling charms. But when he gets Joel to obey him, crossing himself for seeing Little Sunshine in the daylight, that smile that stretches his lips might mean he doesn't usually convince his customers. This supernatural force might be more of a moneymaking scheme than anything else.

Zoo's neck is a sore spot, literally. It's scarred by the time that her husband, Keg, tried to strangle her. So it seems fitting that a charm for protection would go around her neck. Of course, it's kind of like a wish—if you tell it doesn't come true. And given Zoo's fate when she leaves the Landing, it would seem that Little Sunshine just jinxed her.