How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The day she died was December 3, 1954. The furnace had cooked the air so hot my mother had peeled off her sweater and stood in short sleeves, jerking at the window in her bedroom, wrestling with the stuck paint.
Finally she gave up and said, 'Well, fine, we'll just burn the hell up in here, I guess' (1.28-29).
The stuck window seems symbolic of some larger ways in which Deborah is trapped. She is trying to get her things together so she and Lily can leave T. Ray forever, but she is unable to get out before he returns. And of course, she doesn't exit that room alive.
Quote #2
'You can go,' I said.
But the bees remained there, like planes on a runway not knowing they'd been cleared for takeoff. They crawled on their stalk legs around the curved perimeters of the glass as if the world had shrunk to that jar. I tapped the glass, even laid the jar on its side, but those crazy bees stayed put (1.215).
Although the bees initially went crazy flying around the jar, presumably trying to get out, they seem to have gotten used to being trapped in there and are staying put even after Lily opens it. Hmm, we smell a metaphor . . .
Quote #3
The jail cells smelled with the breath of drunk people. He put us in the first cell on the first row, where somebody had scratched the words 'Shit Throne' across a bench attached to one wall. Nothing seemed quite real. We're in jail, I thought. We're in jail (2.19).
Lily is getting her first taste of jail after Rosaleen got into a fight with some men upon arriving in Sylvan. She seems relatively appalled.
Quote #4
You could say I'd never had a true religious moment, the kind where you know yourself spoken to by a voice that seems other than yourself, spoken to so genuinely you see the words shining on trees and clouds. But I had such a moment right then, standing in my own ordinary room. I heard a voice say, Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open.
In a matter of seconds, I knew exactly what I had to do— leave. I had to get away from T. Ray, who was probably on his way back this minute to do Lord-knows-what to me. Not to mention I had to get Rosaleen out of jail (2.72-73).
This is the moment in which Lily resolves to "free" herself from T. Ray. She likens herself to the bees she had trapped in a jar, who also took a little while to realize that they were free to escape. Her next step is to liberate Rosaleen from a more literal (and dangerous) prison.
Quote #5
'I can't just leave,' she said. 'I'm still in jail.'
'If you stay here, those men are gonna come back and ill you. I'm serious. They're gonna kill you, like those colored people in Mississippi got killed. Even T. Ray said so' (2.129-130).
Here, Lily is trying to convince Rosaleen to go along with her plan for breaking her out. She reminds Rosaleen she's still in danger from the men with whom she fought (who, because they are friendly with the jailer, were able to gain enough access to her to beat her up while in "custody").
Quote #6
'They called her Our Lady of Chains because she broke them' (6.79).
Here, it's obvious enough that August is explaining the origins of the statue's name. Our Lady is a gigantic symbol of escape and perseverance in the novel, and her power extends beyond the context of slavery in which she originally gained significance.
Quote #7
Mr. Hazelwurst led us to the last cell. 'Zach Taylor, you got visitors,' he said, then glanced at his watch (9.140).
In this passage, Eddie Hazelwurst is leading Lily and August to visit Zach. It's important to note that two characters end up in jail in the novel, both of them under unjust circumstances, and both of them African American. Given the social and political landscape the characters are working with (and the legacy of slavery), it's no wonder the novel is so preoccupied with the twin themes of imprisonment and escape.
Quote #8
I glanced at poor, shackled Mary. I couldn't bear seeing her like that (11.127).
During the Mary Day festivities, Lily gets upset seeing the statue of Mary all chained up. Hmm . . .
Quote #9
'That jail cell is gonna make me earn grades higher than I ever got. And when this year is over, nothing can keep me from leaving here and going to college' (11.147).
Zach decides to use his trip to jail as motivation to "fly" higher, escaping from any of the forces or concerns that would keep him in Tiburon (which would, presumably, keep him down, in his view).
Quote #10
'Today we're celebrating the Assumption of Mary,' August said. 'We're celebrating how she woke from her sleep and rose into heaven. And we're here to remember the story of Our Lady of Chains, to remind ourselves that those chains could never keep her down. Our Lady broke free of them every time' (13.82).
The themes of imprisonment and escape are intertwined in the novel. The story of Our Lady of Chains offers references to both.