How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
She had neither sympathy nor assistance from those who ought to have entered into her feelings and directed her taste; for Lady Bertram never thought of being useful to anybody, and Mrs. Norris [...] seemed intent only on lessening her niece's pleasure, both present and future, as much as possible (23.27).
This is one of the few places in the book where Fanny's lack of a good mother figure is directly addressed. Fanny may often seem a bit too confident in her own "purity" and her own judgment, but it stands to reason that, without any good female role models, she had to learn to judge for herself in some areas where Edmund wasn't really effective.
Quote #8
[Y]ou will feel that they were not least your friends who were educating and preparing your for that mediocrity of condition which seemed to be your lot. Though their caution may prove eventually unnecessary, it was kindly meant [...]" (32.12).
Once again, the link between family and education appears. Sir Thomas tries to justify Fanny's treatment by her guardians as a way of "educating and preparing" her for a mediocre existence.
Quote #9
Fanny, fatigued and fatigued again, was thankful to accept the invitation of going to bed; and before Betsey had finished her cry at being allowed to sit up only one hour extraordinary in honour of her sister, she was off, leaving all below in confusion and noise again, the boys begging for toasted cheese, her father calling out for his rum and water, and Rebecca never where she ought to be (38.45).
Fanny's noisy and chaotic family create a sharp contrast, in her mind and in that of the readers, between the Prices and the Bertrams. It also seems that her brothers run around as much as they do in order to burn off the calories from their "toasted cheese," which sounds both disgusting and intriguing, kind of like a McGriddle from McDonald's.