How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Title.Paragraph)
Quote #4
He shook his head. "Words and stories," he said, turning onto the Uncas Road. "I don't know what you see in them. Waste of time, if you ask me."
"I didn't ask you."
Royal didn't hear me or he didn't care if he did. He just kept right on talking. "A man's got to know how to read and write, of course, to get along in the world and all, but beyond that, words are just words. They're not very exciting. Not like fishing or hunting." (7.unman.52-54)
Royal's acting like a mouthpiece for how society as a whole and men in particular view the importance—or lack of importance—of language. Consider his actions: Mattie says something pretty rude, but he's not listening. And consider how wrong he is: it's words that spark the racist events in the novel, and the lack of the right words that cause Mattie to break off their engagement. Look who's a waste of time now, Royal.
Quote #5
I thought of my word of the day. Can a girl be unmanned? I wondered. By a boy? Can she be unbrained? (7.unman.67)
Mattie uses language to makes sense of the world. Here she's using her word of the day and breaking it into its parts, trying to figure if it can describe her as well, although she's a woman. And the complexity with which Mattie sees the words transfers gradually to the world as well.
Quote #6
"With just a few words. And then a few more. And then the words turned into insults and threats and worse, and then a man was dead. Just because of words."
Royal was silent, chewing on all I'd said, I imagined.
"I know you told me words are just words, Royal, but words are powerful things—"
I felt a poke in my back. "Hey, Mattie..."
I turned around. "What, Jim? What do you want?" I asked, irritated.
"There goes Seymour! Ain't you going to wave?"
"Who?"
"Seymour, Mattie! Seymour Butts!"
Jim and Will howled with laughter. Royal didn't actually laugh, but he grinned. And I was silent the rest of the way home. (14.monochromatic.97-105)
Right after Weaver gets into the conflict with the man at the train station, Royal gives Mattie a ride home. Whereas Mattie is contemplating the power of words and the meaning of them, Royal and his siblings demonstrate, somewhat insensitively, that words don't necessarily have to be important. In fact, they clearly communicate to Mattie that her words and ideas aren't important because they don't listen to her. So Mattie chooses to be silent.