How we cite our quotes: Paragraph
Quote #7
With her hands on her knees, the old woman waited silent, erect and motionless, just as if she were in armor. (82)
Phoenix is on mega-lockdown, as impenetrable as Fort Knox. Her thoughts boom through the text in the countryside, but here in the doctor's office in the city, her voice goes blank and her body language suggests the need to guard and protect herself in this foreign place.
Quote #8
Then Phoenix was like an old woman begging a dignified forgiveness for waking up frightened in the night. "I never did go to school—I was too old at the Surrender," she said in a soft voice. "I'm an old woman without an education. It was my memory fail me." (87)
We see Phoenix at her weakest right here. She apologizes for her history, which of course is not her fault. As she points out her perceived inadequacies, though, the sassy Phoenix who dominates the Trace is nowhere to be seen.
Quote #9
"All right. The doctor said as long as you came to get it, you could have it," said the nurse. […]
"All right." The nurse was trying to hush her now. She brought her a bottle of medicine. "Charity," she said, making a check mark in her book. (90, 92)
When Phoenix starts to regain her voice and begins to communicate about her grandson, she is shushed. This quote also makes the point that Phoenix is reduced to being an anonymous charity case in the city, while emphasizing the uneven distribution of certain resources between the city and the country. Phoenix has to venture into the city to get medical resources because no one is going to schlep out to the country to ensure that she gets what she needs. How does this exchange impact the way we view the nurse?