Quote 4
"You sure have a big mouth, Weaver Smith," Minnie scolded. "Look what you did. You should say you're sorry."
"I'm not sorry. It's true."
"Lots of things are true. Doesn't mean you can go round saying them," Minnie said. (3.abecedarian.85-97)
Weaver accuses Mattie of giving up her dream because of the promise she made to her mother, and Mattie, torn up about the internal conflict, begins to cry. Take a close look at the conversation here: Minnie is the voice of conventional society, telling Weaver that the truth is less important than how a person feels. But Weaver… Weaver, like usual, is staunch in his conviction to speak honestly about Mattie's situation.
Quote 5
No one spoke for a few seconds. I could hear the clock ticking and the sound of my own breathing. Then Lou quietly said, "Cripes, Mattie. You oughtn't to talk like that." (22.glean.80)
Mattie feels so passionately about telling the truth in writing and literature that she lets her words get away from her as she explains what literature should be like to Miss Wilcox and Lou. It is important that Lou, as the most rebellious of the Gokey girls, is the one who admonishes Mattie for her beliefs about literature.
For all Lou's rebellion, she still operates within the social boundaries of society, not reaching above or below what people expect of her. But here, Lou realizes that Mattie is much more rebellious than she is; in fact, Lou, who habitually breaks social rules, is the one encouraging Mattie to conform.
Quote 6
"You never a barrel of monkey, Michel, but you better den dis. What da hell wrong wid you? Dose girls, dey lose someone, too. Dey lose der mamma, den der brothair. But dey not turn into miserable stinking ghost like you."
"You've had too much whiskey, Francis. As usual."
"Not so much dat I don't know what I see."
"There's plenty you don't see." (16.recouriumphoration.98-101)
Sometimes it's only our family members who can get away with telling us harsh truths. Uncle Fifty, who has arrived after a lucrative logging job, is the only one who can tell Pa to his face how he's changed from the man he used to be, how he's let his grief for his wife and son color every aspect of his life. And then there's this idea of haunting that's repeated when Uncle Fifty calls Pa a "ghost." Pa is haunted: by his wife, by his guilt, and by the blame he heaps on himself for the dissolution of his family.