How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #4
The last thing his father said was that the country would never be the same.
People dont feel safe no more, he said. We're like the Comanches was two hundred years ago. We don't know what's goin to show up here come daylight. We dont even know what color they'll be. (329-30)
John's father compares their situation to that of the Comanches, but clearly no one is actually going to come slaughter the Gradys. Why this comparison—who or what is the "they" that's coming for the country?
Quote #5
They listened with great attention as John Grady answered their questions and they nodded solemnly and they were careful of their demeanor that they not be thought to have opinions on what they heard for like most men skilled at their work they were scornful of any least suggestion of knowing anything not learned at first hand. (1436)
Why would the skilled cowboys (vaqueros) be scornful of knowledge not gained through experience? What might that mean for the idea of "tradition" or "custom"?
Quote #6
La Purísima was one of very few ranches in that part of Mexico retaining the full complement of six square leagues of land allotted by the colonizing legislation of eighteen twenty-four and the owner Don Héctor Rocha y Villareal was one of the few hacendados who actually lived on the land he claimed, land which had been in his family for one hundred and seventy years. He was forty-seven years old and he was the first male heir in all that new world lineage to attain such an age. (1459)
La Purísima's long lineage doesn't seem to remove it from trouble altogether, as Don Héctor is the first man to reach his late forties (which is kind of like the new "late thirties") in all that time. Given that he is one of the few hacendados (ranch heads) that lives on his land, how might he be different from other men of his class and station?