How we cite our quotes: Chapter.paragraph
Quote #7
"I charged him six cents for five cents' worth of strawberries."
"You didn't! Really?"
"A penny fine. Rudeness." (11.94)
Even though Calo cleverly made the man pay for his disrespectful behavior, it didn't really make anything better.
Quote #8
Joseph blinks at me. "You do not like alligator?"
"Who does?"
"He can be ugly. He can be dangerous. But he is honest. He is who he is. You treat him with respect if you want a free life." (12.38)
This honesty bit is pretty interesting. Check out the "Symbols" section to read more about alligators in this book.
Quote #9
"All Eye-talian men murderers." She laughs.
"How can you laugh? […] It's the worst lie I ever heard."
"[…] But it's the truth. The plantation owners' truth. And if you don't learn to respect that truth, you done for."
"Respect a lie?"
"A lie they believe… well, Calogero, that kind of lie can kill you. Really kill you. Not just mortify you." (19.7-15)
There are different kinds of truth—truth based on facts, and truth that isn't actually true, but is believed in so much that it might as well be. Here Calo is learning about this second kind. Though he recognizes the falsehood of the presumptions about Italian people, he needs to respect the fact that most white people believe these ideas—and as such, will treat him and his family accordingly.