How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Then my mother pointed. I saw a tall man standing on the wall of Fort Amsterdam, waving at us. I knew it was my father. I'll never forget that tall, lonely figure standing on the sea wall. (2.47)
Phillip's dad stays behind in Willemstad because of the war and his job with Dutch Shell. What does the lonely figure standing on the wall symbolize to Phillip?
Quote #5
Although I hadn't thought so before, I was now beginning to believe that my mother was right. She didn't like them. She didn't like it when Henrik and I would go down to St. Anna Bay and play near the schooners. But it was always fun. The black people would laugh at us and toss us bananas or papayas. (3.59)
Phillip reveals that he has inherited his ideas about race from his mother. Why doesn't she want her son to associate with the black people on Curaçao? Why is Phillip starting to think that his mother is "right"?
Quote #6
I turned away from him, over on my stomach. I thought about Curaçao, warm and safe; about our gabled house in Scharloo, and about my father. Suddenly I blamed my mother because I was on the raft with this stubborn old black man. It was all her fault. She'd wanted to leave the island.
I blurted out, "I wouldn't even be here with you if it wasn't for my mother."
I knew Timothy was staring at me through the darkness when he said, "She started dis terrible whar, eh, young bahss?" He was a shadowy shape across the raft. (3.71-73)
While Phillip blames his mother for the fact that he's a castaway, Timothy is able to see the bigger picture. What does Timothy understand that Phillip does not?