How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Not that I cared what people thought about my appearance. But even if I wasn't pretty in an obvious way, if my hair was just-barely-blond instead of a golden yellow, if my eyes were gray instead of blue, even if I was as scrawny as a bundle of twigs, there was no doubt in my mind I looked at least twelve and a half. (1.14)
Jamie's appearance isn't very important in the book, but we've included it here to tell us how she views herself. Notice she doesn't talk about her beauty or physical features very much. That's because she's not all that interested in the way she looks, and instead, she wants to play outside with the boys.
Quote #2
More than once the Colonel had told me that if I had been a boy, I would have been a star football player on any team you'd care to name. Well, maybe he didn't say it in those words, but that's what he meant. (2.4)
Whether Jamie likes it or not, her relationship with her dad is different than TJ's because she's a girl. She knows it, and Hollister tells her as much, too. Sometimes it seems like she wishes she were a boy because then she could do all the stuff she loves to do without people getting all up in arms.
Quote #3
"I'm starting eighth grade in September, which is hardly a little girl, and I read Time magazine," I argued. "I know plenty about war." (2.37)
After her mom says she doesn't know anything about the war because she's just a little girl, Jamie won't stand for it. So what? She might be a girl, but she's informed and she has an opinion. She's not going anywhere either. Luckily, Jamie throws shade on this idea that girls can't know much about what's really going down.
Quote #4
"For boys, maybe. Not for girls. Girls ain't supposed to cuss at all."
"That's a stupid rule. Either everybody cusses or nobody cusses." (3.17-18)
When Hollister first meets Jamie, he's not expecting to be put in his place. She gives him a run for his money, though, playing cards and chatting. Jamie won't be told there are different rules for her because she's a girl. If the guys get to cuss, she should be allowed to talk like a sailor, too.
Quote #5
Private Hollister took a second to write down our scores. "Well, (a) for one thing, you're a girl, and a lot of girls couldn't handle being around GIs all the time without getting all silly and giggly and just acting dumb about it. (3.24)
Check out how Hollister qualifies what he thinks specifically because Jamie is a girl. Hey, it's okay for him to hang out at the rec center, and for other dudes to, too, but girls have a tough time in a man cave. It's not somewhere you normally come across women. He's not rude to her or anything, but he makes it clear that a girl on an army base hanging with the guys is rare.
Quote #6
She thought it was inappropriate for a girl my age, on the very edge of womanhood, to play pool and spend Sunday afternoons in a smoke-filled room alongside young soldiers who were not above using colorful language if the situation called for it. (3.28)
Her mom isn't a fan of the idea of Jamie spending all her time around the soldiers because she's a girl, so luckily the Colonel sees no problem with it, enabling Jamie to hang at the rec center like she wants to. Her mom's protests help us understand the expectations for men and women at this time.
Quote #7
"My mom cried," Private Hollister said, sounding more comfortable all of a sudden, like the topic of girls crying was a lot easier one for him to handle. (7.30)
Is it just us or is this silly? We totally support anyone—man or woman—who cries when a brother dies. That's a normal response. Hollister doesn't think of it that way, though. It's more comfortable for him to talk about his mom crying because girls are supposed to cry (at least according to him).
Quote #8
Why did I think it would impress the Colonel to have a man-to-man conversation about TJ, especially when I wasn't a man and what TJ did or didn't do wasn't actually my business? Well, I saw it as a taking-the-bull-by-the-horns opportunity. The Colonel was behaving in a mystifying way. (8.9)
Notice how Jamie uses the word man to talk about something serious and logical. When she wants her dad to be straight with her, she has to act like a man in order to pull it off. She doesn't intend to make a big statement about gender here, but she does anyway in the way she thinks about things.
Quote #9
They'd pull Private Hollister's notebook right out of his top desk drawer and run their fingers down the rows of numbers, adding it all up. Most of them were rooting for me, because I was so much younger and a girl, I guess. (10.1)
Gin Rummy is serious business, especially in the army, and Jamie's got game. She might only be twelve, but she knows how to play a mean hand, and Hollister knows it, too. Yet, we see that the soldiers—including Hollister—doubt her at first. This is partly to do with her age, and partly to do with her gender.
Quote #10
"That's my girl!" the Colonel yelled from the other end of the yard. "You show me Jamie Dexter, and I'll show you a girl who can play some football!" (12.28)
Notice the subtle expectation here is that girls can't play football—otherwise, it wouldn't be such a big deal that Jamie could throw so well. Even though no one ever gives Jamie a list of things she can and can't do, we can tell what everyone thinks by their reactions to her, especially when she defies the norm.