How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Is there trouble, Joseph?" Mama was never one to shilly-shally about things.
"I feel the hysteria connected with this witch business will get worse before it abates. It is fed on distrust in our community, on old quarrels between neighbors."
"Then it is well fed before it starts," Mama said. (9.10-12)
If you're looking for the origin of the witch hullabaloo, you're gonna have to go farther back in time than this book does—folks have been fighting in Salem for a long time. Keep an eye out to see if the town finds a way to escape its past by the end of the book.
Quote #5
I do not much ponder the farewell. But it still comes to the front of my mind at night when I hear owls calling to each other in the loneliness. Or when I catch the scent of the marshes. When that happens, I can still feel Mama's or Mary's arms around me, hear Mary's sobs as we drew apart, hear Father's voice break as it did when he tried to conceal his painful feelings.
I can, to this day, conjure up in an instant their whispered reassurances that we would soon meet again, the promises they wrung from me regarding my safety. (17.64-65)
It stinks that Susanna has to say goodbye to her family when her parents and sis head to Boston, and it's a memory our girl is not going to forget any time soon. What's cool is that her memory is tied to sounds and smells. Did you notice how "the scent of the marshes" makes her think of this memory? We're thinking if she wants to forget this tidbit from her past, she better move to a desert or something.
Quote #6
"What do you want from us?" Johnathan asked.
"Susanna knows," she said softly. Then she turned and pointed to the lifeless figure on the end of the rope, etched against the blue June sky. See how she swings in the breeze. Hear the creaking of the tree branch. How many others will swing on it, hey?" (18.41-42)
Goody Bibber totally remembers her chat with Susanna way back in the day. And she remembers that Susanna saw what she saw happening in that parsonage. Most of the time, Susanna wants to forget what she knows about Ann and the circle of lying girls, but Goody Bibber sure doesn't want Susanna to lose that memory. And she's giving Susanna a super creepy way for her to remember their shared past.