How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
After listening to one or two of the verses, I tuned out the rest of them. I had heard them all many times. (5.2)
Grant rejects the Bible, but he makes his students memorize the verses anyway. This shows the deep battle he is experiencing when it comes to religion. On the inside he doesn't believe, but externally he knows how important religion is to the community.
Quote #2
My classroom was the church. (5.3)
This just about sums up the influence that religion has on the plantation. Even Grant, who doesn't believe anymore, is forced to go to church every day and work. As the teacher, he is expected to care of the children's intellectual education as well as their spiritual education.
Quote #3
"God?" I said. Because I had never heard him say God before. Because when we had said our Bible verses for him, he seemed to have hated the very words we spoke. (8.37)
Grant seems to be following in Professor Antoine's footsteps, because he hates listening to the Bible verses just as much as his old teacher did. However, the old man seems to have come to a new understanding of God as he gets closer to death.