How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"And you acted real nice to her too, Grandma. You gave her buttermilk and that big slab of corn bread."
"Oh well," Grandma waved herself away. "Didn't want to send her off hungry. I knew she had a long walk ahead of her." (1.126-127)
Grandma Dowdel may be out to teach Mildred a lesson, but she's not totally heartless. She knows that the girl will have a five mile walk home, and so she feeds her before sending her off. In her mind, this balances the scales.
Quote #2
Grandma, who didn't know how to drive an automobile, aimed at the tree and hit it dead on, ramming it with the tire over the radiator. The tree reeled in shock, and pecans rained. It was a good thing I wasn't standing under it. A ton of pecans fell together, like a hailstorm. (2.62)
Technically, Grandma isn't going against what Old Man Nyquist said—which is that she can have any pecans that have fallen from his tree. But she does use a bit of ingenuity to make sure that lots of pecans fall out of that tree.
Quote #3
In short, she got more than a dime off everybody, except from those she knew couldn't pay more. In some cases she could make change, in others she couldn't. Once, I saw her palm the dime back into the hand that offered it. (3.61)
Grandma Dowdel isn't extorting more money from people because she's greedy. She's taking the Robin Hood approach: demanding more from the rich and giving the poor some burgoo for free. And in the end, all the money that's collected goes to Mrs. Abernathy and her disabled son. So…it's all okay? Right?