How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Noah hung Paw's fowling piece with the pouch and the shotbag on the chimney. Mama wanted him to sit at the head of the table, in Paw's chair. It was to remind Noah that he was all the man this family had. (3.5)
Even before the war comes, Mama's already worried that she'll lose Noah to the river the same way she lost Paw. How would you feel if you were expected to take a parent's place in your family? Do the Pruitts need a man in the family for any reason?
Quote #2
A scent came from her, of some flower we didn't know. Noah swayed.
Mama saw and didn't like it. All men were what she called "susceptible," and Noah thought he was a man already. (4.47-48)
Mama and Noah have some kind of weird dynamic going on. Mainly, Mama just wants to make sure nothing—not war and not women—distracts Noah from his main job as the man of the Pruitt family.
Quote #3
I explained to her that womenfolk didn't go into Jenkins's as a rule. The forge was in a back room, and men were apt to hang around there, chewing and using language we all knew but weren't supposed to. (5.10)
Even before the war, life in Grand Tower is quite divided by gender. What does Tilly mean when she mentions "language we all knew but weren't supposed to"?
Quote #4
"A soldier must leave someone behind," she said. "What men do best is walk away from women. Wars are handy for that." (6.35)
Delphine is 15, right? So, how many men has she seen walk away from women in her short life? Because she talks like someone who knows what she's talking about.
Quote #5
The wonder is that Noah didn't flee this house of women sooner than he did. (7.70)
Why does Tilly say this? What would make Noah want to leave, other than the war?
Quote #6
"If you go among men," Calinda said, "she come in handy. She is meant for men." (9.45)
While Delphine seems to embrace her training in the arts of attraction, this still seems sad. Can't Delphine be meant for herself? Why should she be meant for others?
Quote #7
Delphine and me both knew he had a good heart, and he was stretched thin. But he was a man, and men can't look after themselves, let alone one another. (10.63)
Well, that sounds rather sexist. There's no question, though, that somebody at Camp Defiance has dropped the ball.
Quote #8
I marveled at the way men's minds are made and how they think, if you can call it thought at all. I saw plain that we'd get him on his feet only so he could go off and try his level best to get himself killed. (10.69)
Tilly clearly does not have a high view of men's motivations. To be fair, however, she's right about Noah—he does plan on heading into battle the second he can stand.
Quote #9
As in many a battle before it and since, both sides claimed a victory. But no woman would have called it a victory. (13.16)
Likely, neither would any of the people waiting in Cairo for their loved ones to return. We can't imagine that the fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and sons of those fighting were all that thrilled about it, either.