How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Was [Roxy] bad? Was she worse than the general run of her race? No. They had an unfair show in the battle of life, and they held it no sin to take military advantage of the enemy—in a small way; in a small way, but not in a large one. They would smouch provisions from the pantry whenever they got a chance; or a brass thimble, or a cake of wax [. . .] (2.33)
As usual, our wise old narrator hesitates to jump to conclusions, encouraging us to consider a person's circumstances before judging whether their actions are good or bad.
Quote #2
[. . .] a drowsy hen would step onto the comfortable board, softly clucking her gratitude, and the prowler would dump her into his bag, and later into his stomach, perfectly sure that in taking this trifle from the man who daily robbed him of an inestimable treasure—his liberty—he was not committing any sin that God would remember against him in the Last Great Day. (2.33)
Back in the day, one argument in favor of slavery was that blacks' thefts were proof that they were inherently immoral and thus undeserving of liberty. This depiction of a slave justifying his theft of a hen (hey, it's a lot better than enslaving an entire race) points out how slavery itself was more likely the culprit for many of blacks' moral slip-ups.
Quote #3
"Oh I got to do it, yo' po' mammy's got to kill you to save you, honey"—[Roxy] gathered her baby to her bosom now, and began to smother it with caresses [. . .] (3.3)
So we don't usually associate moral heroism with murder. But Roxy seems convinced that drowning her baby to spare him a life of servitude is the right thing to do, suggesting just how strongly the institution of slavery could mess with one's moral sensibility.