How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Mrs. Frisby and her children were especially lucky in the house itself. It was a slightly damaged cinder block, the hollow kind with two ovals through it; it had somehow been abandoned in the garden during the summer. (1.4)
Okay, so it's not a palace, but it sounds like they could do worse. Their home is secure, and cozy enough. Of course later, we learn that all is not as it seems initially, since the Frisby home is in serious danger.
Quote #2
Lined with bits of leaves, cloth, cotton fluff, feathers and other soft things Mrs. Frisby and her children had collected, the house stayed dry, warm and comfortable all winter. (1.4)
Okay, universe, we get it: you're vast and all. But is it fair to allow the Frisbys to make it all the way through the tough winter and then yank the rug our from under their tiny feet? No, no it is not, universe.
Quote #3
"Mrs. Frisby's house is beside the rock, and will get plowed up—and probably crushed, as the owl said. But if we can move it a few feet – so that it lies buried behind the rock—in the lee—then she and her children can stay in as long as they need to." (13.14)
This is the first moment in the novel where it seems like there's any hope for the Frisby family. Mrs. Frisby has been in a panic, unable to see a way out, but the rats easily voice a solution. It's interesting that even though their home is so much fancier, the rats still respect the need to save the Frisby home. Way to stay classy, rats.
Quote #4
She remembered again what her husband had said—how easy it was to unlock a door when you have the key. She had found the key. (13.21)
This is Mrs. Frisby's "a-ha" moment, when things are all starting to fall into place. It's neat how the metaphor of a key is used, since most of us use keys to get into our own houses.
Quote #5
"We lived near this market—my father, my mother, my nine sisters and brothers and I—underground in a big pipe that had once been part of a storm sewer." (14.25)
That must have been one crowded drainpipe. Even though Nicodemus has evolved in such a way that he probably wouldn't be up for living in a sewer anymore, he still waxes sentimental about his old digs because his family is there.
Quote #6
They could stay in the house, now, as long as they needed to. On some warm day later in the spring, when Timothy was strong again, they would move to the summer house down by the brook […] It could be theirs forever, thanks to the rats. (26.2)
It's nice that Mrs. Frisby's sense of hope has been renewed. Now that her home is safe, she is also confident that Timothy will get better. In this book, home and safety are closely linked, so this makes a lot of sense.
Quote #7
The house was a roomy chamber with a pleasant, earthy smell. Its floor was hard-packed dirt, and its wooden roof was an arched intertwining of roots, above which rose the tree itself, an oak. (28.10)
This description of the Frisby's summer place is a lot different than their cement block. While that is snug and cozy, this is much airier—and perfect for the warm weather. Yet even though this house is roomier, so to speak, the image of the intertwining roots still suggests the safety of the home.
Quote #8
In the garden, they were always alone with themselves, but along the bank of the brook in summer lived five other mice families, all with children. (28.9)
It's always nice to have kids in the neighborhood, but one can't help but wonder if the kids will be able to accept the Frisby kids, now that we know that they have Mr. Frisby's modified DNA rattling around inside them.
Quote #9
The sun had set. They went into the house and lay down on the soft moss Mrs. Frisby had placed on the floor of their room under the roots. Outside, the brook swam quietly through the woods, and up above them the warm wind blew through the newly opened leaves of the big oak tree. They went to sleep. (28.43)
If this doesn't sound like domestic bliss, we don't know what does. There is soft moss, a quietly swimming brook and newly opened leaves. Paradise! But really, it is the fact that they are there, healthy and whole that makes the paradise complete.