How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Look, I ain't gonna stand here and argue with the likes of you," she said. "I don't know how I could make it any clearer. We got no rooms available for you. So if you don't mind, I will thank you to go on and leave the house now." (74.7)
Once Ben's made an enemy of the White Raiders, Maybelle doesn't want to get involved with his problems. She tells him he can't stay at her place anymore. She's not one of the KKK or out shooting people like the White Raiders, but we're not sure she's any better than them either since she sits by and lets that stuff happen by not standing up to it.
Quote #8
"White men charged for killing black men, right down there in the heart of Dixie. Now let Du Bois and that Wells-Barnett woman try to tell me I have ignored the Negro problem!" (89.9)
Roosevelt comes across as pretty ignorant here. He's proud of the work that Ben's doing, but he uses it to pretend that he's been a part of the change in Eudora. In reality, though, he's sitting pretty in the oval office while Ben gets his hands—and neck—dirty.
Quote #9
"Those men must have thought I'd forgotten all about them." He laughed, a big booming Roosevelt laugh. "I think I showed great wisdom not to respond to their first report, but to let them draw their own conclusions as to what should be done." (89.21)
Roosevelt must think highly of himself—or so it seems when he congratulates himself for all of Ben's work in Eudora. It doesn't seem fair or right, and even Roosevelt's henchman (Hensen) is floored by the President's arrogance here.