How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
I was shocked at how the grown-ups pushed in first. But then here came Ina-Rae Gage, who always looked so wan and drawn that I cut her an extra-wide slice of pecan.
When she was past, Grandma muttered to me, "That's the skinniest girl that ever I saw. She could rest in the shade of a clothesline." (2.97-98)
Times must be tough if the grown-ups are pushing past the kids for food. Poor Ina-Rae looks so starved that Mary Alice decides to give her more pie than all the other folks in line. She could use some fattening up—and pie's just what the doctor ordered.
Quote #5
She liked to boil her laundry in a big pot over an open fire in the yard. She didn't have a wringer, so we wrung out the sheets by hand. It was like tug-of-war once she dug her heels in. By the time we hung them on the line, they were half dry and we were wet through. (6.15)
The tough times means that Grandma and Mary Alice have to do their laundry by hand out in the yard, instead of using newfangled contraptions like a wringer. And they certainly couldn't even imagine how easy modern washers and dryers make washing the sheets. (Hm. That might be a good thing to remember the next time we complain about having to do our own laundry…)
Quote #6
Grandma didn't throw him out and send him on his way. Not at two dollars and fifty cents a day. Arnold Green brought his easel down from the attic that same Sunday afternoon. Something Grandma said left him with the impression that the snake was gone for good. Still, he nailed the trapdoor shut and painted in his bedroom. (6.128)
Everyone's watching their expenses, and so Grandma certainly cannot afford to throw out Arnold Green. Not that we get the impression she really wants to. Sure, she makes a rule that naked ladies are not to be painted in her attic, but really, she seems more entertained than scandalized. Still, at $2.50 a day, a little scandal might be worth enduring.