How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Title.Paragraph)
Quote #4
And then he put his arms around me and held me to him as best he could in a rowboat, and it felt so good. No one had so much as hugged me since my mamma died. I wished I had the words to describe how I felt. My word of the day, augur, which means to foretell things from omens, had nothing to do with it as far as I could see. I felt warm in his arms. Warm and hungry and blind. (21.auger.53)
It's so easy to see how Mattie is seduced not so much by Royal but by the intimacy and the caring a relationship such as marriage can offer, the type of intimacy she saw in her parents' relationship before her mother died. She's so alone, and she, like this song, just wants somebody to love and to love her. She's hoping that Royal fits the bill.
Quote #5
According to the article I'd read in Peterson's Magazine, if you wish to attract a man, you need to be "attentive and receptive to his every word, put his own interests before yours, and use the eloquent, unspoken language of the female body to let him know that he is the very center of your universe, the primary reason for your existence." The first two bits of advice were clear to me. I had trouble with the third one, though. (26.abscission.1)
The magazine that Mattie is referring to is one that provides guidance to women about marriage and acceptable social behaviors. But Mattie takes issue with this advice, and her experience with the opposite sex is so little that she doesn't know how to interpret "the unspoken language of the female body." Though we know that this just really means flirting or using her sexuality to please a man.
Quote #6
And it was only much later, after he'd called at our place and asked Pa if I could go riding, and we'd been up to Inlet and back and I was upstairs in my bed remembering every one of his kisses, that I wondered if he was supposed to have said he loved me when he told me about the ring. Or if maybe that came later. (26.abscission.22)
Even though Royal paws at Mattie's body and does nice things for her and kisses her, Mattie has enough foresight to think about love. And in marriage at the beginning of the twentieth century, it appears that love is a luxury. Think of Aunt Josie's marriage. Or Frank Loomis's marriage. There's love in Pa and Mamma's marriage and in the partnership of Minnie and Tom, so at least Mattie knows what to compare her relationship with Royal to.