How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Most children brought up in Brooklyn before the First World War remember Thanksgiving Day there with a peculiar tenderness. It was the day the children went around “ragamuffin” or “slamming gates,” wearing costumes topped off by a penny mask. (26. 1)
Our country’s traditions on holidays have really changed since this time. This seems like it is more like our Halloween, doesn’t it?
Quote #11
“If I did that, all the other would expect to get ‘em handed to ‘em. An next year nobody a’tall would buy a tree off of me. They’d all wait to get ‘em handed to ‘em on a silver plate […] “I gotta think of myself and my own kids.” He finally came to his conclusion. “Oh, what the hell! Them two kids is gotta live in this world. They got to get used to it. They got to learn to give and to take punishment. And by Jesus, it ain’t give but take, take, take all the time in this God-damned world.” As he threw the tree with all his strength, his heart wailed out, “It’s a God-damned, rotten, lousy world!” (27.20)
The poverty of the time was pretty heartbreaking. It forced most people to be concerned only about ensuring that their families were fed, even when they knew it was a nasty way to be.
Quote #12
She watched him work over her baby. She saw a miracle that transcended the miracles of the saints her mother had told her about. She saw the dead blue change to living white. She saw an apparently lifeless child draw a breath. For the first time she heard the cry of a child she had borne. (50.17)
Thanks to modern technology and having babies in hospitals, so many more children have a chance at life.