How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
laughing and talking to hide her tears. (6)
Wait a minute—they're laughing and joking together, but the grandma is secretly sad and isn't letting the child in on why.
Quote #2
but only known to a grandmother. (10)
Again, whatever is eating at the grandma seems to be a private pain. We can't help but wonder if the kid knows what that pain is, and maybe even shares it… just separately.
Quote #3
[…] but the child
is watching the teakettle's small hard tears (13-14)
The grandmother is talking to the child, but the child has gone off in her own, daydreaming world. Is it a happy world or a sad one? How can we tell?
Quote #4
and her teacup full of dark brown tears. (22)
There's that secret pain again, rearing its secret, painful head.
Quote #5
But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove, (31-32)
You get the feeling that everyone is hiding something. The grandmother especially. What a lonely state of affairs. We can't help but wonder if this household was doomed to be depressing from the get-go. We mean, haven't these two heard that sharing (your feelings) is caring?
Quote #6
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove and the child draws another inscrutable house. (38-39)
At the beginning of the poem, the grandmother and child were talking to one another. Now it seems they've drifted further apart and are more fulfilled by interacting with the stove and drawing. They're in separated worlds, totally isolated from each other.