How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
After about half a mile, we turned right on another headland. You had cane here, too, but just on one side. On the left the cane had been cut and hauled away, and you could see all the way back to the swamps. It made me feel lonely. In made me feel lonely. In my old age, specially in grinding, when I saw an empty cane field, it always made me feel lonely. The rows looked so naked and gray and lonely—like an old house where the people have moved from. Where good friends have moved from, leaving the house empty and bare, with nothing but ghosts now to keep it company. (6.8)
Cherry says some pretty deep stuff here, comparing the cane that's disappeared to the years of his life that have done the same. It's probably not an accident that he mentions ghosts, because this passage can really haunt you if you let it.
Quote #5
After I had knelt down and prayed over my own family plot, I wandered over to where dirty Red was standing all by himself. He was eating a pecan and looking down at the weeds that covered the graves. […]
"My brother Gabe there," Dirty Red said. I didn't know for sure what spot he was looking at, because soon as he said he cracked another pecan with his teeth. […] My mon, Jude; my pa, Francois, right there," he said. I still didn't know for sure where he was looking. "Uncle Ned right in there—somewhere," he said.
The whole place was sunked in, and you had weeds everywhere, so I couldn't tell for sure where Dirty Red was looking. (6.23-5)
Throughout his novel, Gaines seems to be telling us a lot about the connection that Marshall's Black community has with the land. How would you describe that connection?
Quote #6
The length of the quarters was a little less than half a mile, beginning with the highway and going back into the fields. The bushes and weeds grew so tall on either side of the road that the road seemed no wider than a king-sized bed sheet. Somewhere down there I could make out a tractor and a car. As I came deeper into the quarters, I noticed that there were no people around. The doors and windows of the few old houses were open, but no one sat out on the porches, and no one stood in the yard or worked in the gardens. The place looked as if everyone had suddenly picked up and gone. (8.3)
Yeah, they picked up and went alright. They picked up some shotguns and went looking for a fight. Lou is in for a real surprise, but he still manages to give us the best description of the quarters we get.