How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Neither knew more than five words of the other's language and after the opening Bonjours both would unconsciously raise their voices as though talking to a deaf person. (2.24)
Here the narrator is describing her mother's struggles to communicate with Madame (and vice versa). Apparently, they would resort to screaming at each other to try to make themselves understood. It's quite an image.
Quote #5
"Avez-vous du viande hâché?" I ask her, blushing because of my accent. She grins then and the two men grin also, not at me but at each other. I see I've made a mistake, I should have pretended to be an American. "Amburger, oh yes we have lots. How much?" she asks, adding the final H carelessly to show she can if she feels like it. This is border country. (3.4-6)
When she goes into a shop to get some food for the group, the narrator ends up feeling super-embarrassed about communicating with the shopkeeper in French. Apparently her accent marks her off as so different that she believes it would have been better just to pretend to be American.
Quote #6
"Reel in," I say to David. There's no sense in staying here now. If they catch one they'll be here all night, if they don't get anything in fifteen minutes they'll blast off and scream around the lake in their souped-up boat, deafening the fish. They're the kind who catch more than they can eat and they'd do it with dynamite if they could get away with it. (7.50)
While they're out fishing, they encounter some Americans. Apparently their arrival ruins the expedition for the narrator for the reasons she outlines inwardly (it's unclear if she relays any of this thinking to David). Man, Americans really have a bad rep in this neck of the woods.