How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Are you the boy who walks with his colored maid to the bus stop? (2.43)
Victor is growing up in an era when everyone pays attention to the color of your skin. Mrs. Worthington even finds it notable that he goes to the bus stop with Mam… which feels like the most normal thing in the world to Victor.
Quote #2
I liked all the colored junkmen who pushed their carts around our neighborhood because they minded their own business and just nodded at me when they passed and that meant I didn't have to go to the trouble of trying to figure out how to say anything. (3.27)
There's definitely a divide between white and black in Memphis when Victor is growing up. He sees black people walking by and through the streets, but they don't live in the same neighborhood as him and they don't get to go to the same places.
Quote #3
I thought about how Mam never got to go on trips or do anything special because she was always taking care of me and cleaning my parents' house and washing clothes and sewing on buttons. When she did get to leave for a few days she came back with her face all busted up. (11.51)
The older Victor gets, the more he realizes that things aren't fair in life. Mam works so hard, but because she's his family's black domestic help, she never gets to do fun things or enjoy her life.
Quote #4
Another question I had been wanting to ask Mam came to me. I knew part of the answer but it didn't make any sense.
s-s-s-s-Why do they s-s-s-s-make you ride in the s-s-s-s-back of the s-s-s-s-bus? (11.53-54)
The idea that Mam has to always sit at the back of the bus confuses Victor. It doesn't make any sense that she wouldn't be allowed to sit at the front. Why are there all of these stupid rules in place, anyway?
Quote #5
Thinking about somebody hurting Mam and then remembering all the stupid rules that Mam had to live by just because of her color made going to sleep a hard job. I guess I had a Vengeful Heart because I could feel it busting like when the stuffing comes out of an old baseball. (11.60)
Even though Mam pretends like the rules don't bother her, Victor knows that they do… and that makes him mad. He wants to fix things so that Mam doesn't have to follow any of those ridiculous rules anymore.
Quote #6
Mam could get into the zoo for free after noon on Wednesdays if she wore her white uniform and went in the gate with me. She couldn't go to the zoo on any day that she wanted to like I could. More silly rules by grown-ups. (12.3)
There are rules about everything when it comes to white and black people. Mam can't even go to the zoo as she pleases; she can only enter if she's accompanied by Victor on a Wednesday afternoon.
Quote #7
Then he called Mam a bad word.
He said it under his breath but we both heard it. I didn't know if I could ever say the word because it started with a hard N sound.But I know I would never try. Mam gave him a long look. I felt my right hand opening and closing for a baseball to throw. (12.26-27)
When Mam and Victor come face to face with bigotry, it upsets them both. Those boys use words to offend and hurt Mam, and Victor wishes that he could hit them right in the head with a baseball.
Quote #8
On they way out of the park I told Mam that we had enough money to get our picture made at the photographer's booth near the ice cream stand. She said for me to go ahead and have mine if I wanted. When I kept pestering her she told me that the people in charge at the zoo wouldn't allow her to have her picture made with me. (12.35)
Mam isn't even allowed to take a picture at the zoo with Victor. Well, this is just too ridiculous… so Victor comes up with a scheme to lie to the photographer and get their photo taken together.
Quote #9
Rat's mother had a copy of the Press-Scimitar which had a story on the first page about how more schools in Arkansas were going to start making all kids go to class together no matter what color they were and even though it caused such a big problem two years ago that the Army had to be called in. (20.23)
There's big news at the end of the book: Apparently, more and more schools across the country are beginning to integrate. Racial segregation is coming to an end at long last… even if some people don't want to stop it.
Quote #10
When they were walking to the door Rat's mother said she and Rat's father had started thinking about moving out to the country so Rat could go to a school that they knew would be full of only white kids.
I still don't see why it's such a big deal to have everybody going to the same school. You can't tell what a kid is like just by how he looks. Or how he talks. (20.24-25)
Victor cannot agree with all the adults who think that schools should remain segregated. He has decided that the different rules for white and black people are unfair, and he wants all kids to be able to go to the same school.