How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #7
He must have appeared to them some apparition out of the vanished past because he jostled the other with his elbow and they both looked.
Howdy, said John Grady. I wonder if you all could tell me what day this is?
They looked at each other.
It's Thursday, the first one said.
I mean the date.
The man looked at him. He looked at the horses standing behind him. The date? he said.
Yessir.
It's Thanksgiving day, the other man said. (3803-10)
And you thought people treated you weird when you arrive for the holidays. What do the men's nervous reactions—as well as John's question and their response—reveal about where he has been, and what obstacles lay ahead for his re-entry?
Quote #8
You could get on out on the rigs. Pays awful good.
Yeah. I know.
You could stay here at the house.
I think I'm goin to move on.
This is still good country.
Yeah. I know it is. But it aint my country. […]
Where is you country? [Rawlins] said.
I dont know, said John Grady. I dont know where it is. I dont know what happens to country.
(4031-6, 4040-1)
What does John mean when he says "I dont know what happens to country"? Does it just disappear? Or is this more descriptive of his own situation?
Quote #9
They pulled up along the road in front of the little Mexican cemetery and people got out into the road and the pallbearers in their suits of faded black stood at the rear of the hearse and they carried Abuela's casket up through the gate into the cemetery. No one looked at him. […] They buried her and they prayed and they wept and they wailed and then they came back down out of the cemetery into the road helping each other along and weeping and got into the cars and turned one by one on the narrow blacktop and went back the way they'd come. (4046)
There is a striking contrast between John's reaction to Abuela's funeral and the grieving of the relatives, which seems more in line with Alfonsa's statements about the communal nature of grief. Instead of reflecting on the relatives' grief and common bonds, the narrator zooms in on John's thoughts about a world that seems not to care about the dead.