How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She pulled me along past the boarded-up stationery store, and the shoe place that had been having a going-out-of-business sale since I was in sixth grade. (2.68)
The store may have put the going-out-of-business sign in the window to bring in more poor customers looking for a deal. Of course, the trick stops working after a few years. It's one more instance of how run-down Pacifica is, and how even businesses owners aren't too hopeful for a better tomorrow.
Quote #2
"That's nine, so… three for each of us. Woo-hoo!" She led us into Nordy's, waving the bills, shouting, "Stand back people, we have some shopping to do!" (2.141)
Lee flaunts the group's lack of money like it's a joke, marking her as fundamentally different from Jason and Deanna. She can make light of it because it's not her reality—this is a girl from a loving home who expects to go to college.
Quote #3
"I might be able to buy half an earring someday," Lee said, looking at the hundredth jewelry display of the night. "If it was on sale." (2.146)
Lee tries throughout the mall trip to relate to Jason and Deanna by making comments about her lack of money. We don't know for sure that she's rich, but we think she's trying too hard.
Quote #4
"They asked people to volunteer for some days off." She started straightening up my room, picking up laundry and stacking CD cases. "Don't ever work in retail." (3.4)
Obviously Deanna's mom was coerced into "volunteering" to give up shifts she needed to work, possibly in the name of keeping her job. Hmm, could there be a parallel here with something Deanna was coerced into giving up?
Quote #5
"My mother would roll in her grave if she knew I work on Sundays while you all stay home and eat Pop-Tarts, not a one of us in church." (3.18)
This is just one example of the compromises poverty forces people to make. Healthful food, belief systems—all of these things can fall away when faced with the need to survive. It's a sacrifice sort of like giving up your virginity so someone will give you the attention you need to survive emotionally.
Quote #6
I could see it all like a movie on a screen: her, alone with Dad for the rest of their lives, the house staying exactly the same (down to the last detail), shabby and worn-out, all the stains and holes and leaks showing, green shag carpet forever. (3.54)
Deanna comes from a long line of hopeless folks. Why should she expect better from her life than what her mother got? She's seriously lacking role models, our Deanna.
Quote #7
I did the math in my head. How many paychecks, how many weeks of scraping cheese off the counter, how many hours of Tommy's eyes on me would it cost to buy my way out? (3.131)
In other words, how much of her dignity does she have to give up on the path to freedom? How much does she have to sacrifice to get out of her parents' house?
Quote #8
What if Mom didn't have to work at a department store, with people complaining all day about stuff they'd bought, or leaving piles of clothes on dressing room floors for her to pick up? Would she look so gray and tired? (5.26)
Good question. Probably not, if she had a supportive family. We're willing to bet Deanna looks tired too, if not gray.
Quote #9
"You want my advice? My advice is that you're not missing anything and in a couple of years you'll go to college and me and Jason will be here in Pathetica working crap-ass jobs and hanging out at Denny's, so why waste your time? On either of us." (5.105)
Deanna seems to think that the only people who should hang out with poor people are other poor people. Do you think she really thinks this, or is she trying to pull a Stacy and act too tough to care?
Quote #10
My mom was at work and my dad had gone to bed early after pulling a long shift at a temp job. It was after he'd been laid off from National Paper, but before the auto store, and it seemed like all he did was hunt for jobs or temp or sleep. (6.94)
Excessive sleeping can be a sign of depression. Do you think Deanna's dad is depressed, or does he just have an anger problem (a.k.a. a refusing-to-deal-with-reality problem)?