How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
T. Ray refused to let me bring books out here and read, and if I smuggled one out, say Lost Horizon, stuck under my shirt, somebody, like Mrs. Watson from the next farm, would see him at church and say, 'Saw your girl in the peach stand reading up a storm. You must be proud.' And he would half kill me.
What kind of person is against reading? (1.97).
Lily definitely thinks stories and storytelling are important (she's writing this book, after all), but T. Ray does not. In illustrating the "kind of person he is," rather than focusing on the fact that he would "half kill" her, Lily highlights his grumpiness with reading.
Quote #2
She motioned me to sit next to her in the rocking chair. 'I want to tell you a story,' she said. 'It's a story our mother used to tell me when we got tired of our chores or out of sorts with our lives' (5.61).
Here, August is about to tell Lily the story of Beatrix the nun. Lily correctly guesses that there is a hidden message in the story for her (however, as we discover at the end of the novel, she gets the meaning entirely wrong).
Quote #3
'It's not a pretty story.'
'My story's not pretty either,' I said, and she smiled (5.104-105).
In addition to being instructive or empowering, stories can drag you down. Here, August is about to tell Lily about May's late twin sister, April, who committed suicide when the girls were teenagers. This is a story that has weighed May down since then.
Quote #4
We want to know if you are one of us, if your cousin knows our cousin, if your little sister went to school with our big brother, if you go to the same Baptist church as our ex-boss. We are looking for ways our stories fit together. It was rare, though, for Negroes to ask white people where they're from, because there was nothing much to be gained from it, as their stories weren't that likely to link up (6.33).
Lily is discussing the Southern tendency to ask people where they're from as a first step in fitting a new person into one's own "stories." Although she claims that the "stories" of African Americans and white people have rarely met up, she's certainly writing one in which they do . . .
Quote #5
Laying the Bible in her chair, she said, 'It's been a while since we've told the story of Our Lady of Chains, and since we have visitors who've never heard the story of our statue, I thought we'd tell it again.'
One thing I was starting to understand was that August loved to tell a good story. 'Really, it's good for all of us to hear it again,' she said. 'Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here' (6.58).
As we already know, Lily is correct; August loves stories. Here, she explains why: Stories are powerful, allowing the people who tell and hear them to understand their place in the world better.
Quote #6
'You mean you've never heard of Willifred Marchant?' he said. 'She is only a world-famous writer who wrote three Pulitzer Prize books about the deciduous trees of South Carolina.'
[…]
'Deciduous trees are an interesting topic, I guess. But I myself would rather write about people' (7.132-137).
This is a conversation between Lily and Zach about Tiburon's (fictional) Pulitzer Prize winner. Lily is really starting to think about becoming a writer at this point, and this conversation brings that fact out.
Quote #7
I giggled. 'Do you think that really happened?'
'Well, yes and no,' she said. 'Some things happen in a literal way, Lily. And then other things, like this one, happen in a not-literal way, but they still happen. Do you know what I mean?' (8.45).
Here, August downplays the importance of "literal" truth in stories. The novel itself contains some stories with clear non-literal truths, such as the swarms of bees that invaded Lily's room and the legend of Our Lady of Chains. August seems to believe that a story's importance has more to do with what it helps the listener to feel, see, or do, and less to do with the facts.
Quote #8
'I'll write this all down for you.' I said. 'I'll put it in a story.'
I don't know if that's what he wanted to ask me, but it's something everybody wants—for someone to see the hurt done to them and set it down like it matters (9.153).
Here, Lily suggests that story can also be powerful tool for documenting a history (in this case, a personal one). So, in this case, the factual would actually be pretty powerful, no?