How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
When my eyes rested on my father, I didn't think very much of the way he looked. But when my eyes rested on my mother, I found her beautiful. Her head looked as if it should be on a sixpence. What a beautiful long neck, and long plaited hair, which she pinned up around the crown of her head because when her hair hung down it made her too hot. Her mouth, moving up and down as she ate and talked at the same time, was such a beautiful mouth I could have looked at it forever if I had to and not mind. (2.8)
Here, we see again Annie's infatuation with her mother. In Annie's eyes, everything her mother touches turns to gold. She's got the Midas touch. Oh, and she's strikingly beautiful too. What a mom!
Quote #8
From time to time, my mother would fix on a certain place in our house and give it a good cleaning. If I was home when she happened to do this, I was at her side, as usual. When she did this with the trunk, […] as she held each thing in her hand she would tell me a story about myself […] On and on my mother would go. No small part of my life was so unimportant that she hadn't made a note of it, and now she would tell it to me over and over again. (2.10)
This passage is crucial because it introduces the theme of storytelling. Both of Annie's parents are great storytellers and she becomes one too. The trunk is the catalyst for stories about Annie's life.
Quote #9
As she told me the stories, I sometimes sat at her side, leaning against her, or I would crouch on my knees behind her back and lean over her shoulder. As I did this, I would occasionally sniff at her neck, or behind her ears, or at her hair. […] How terrible it must be for all the people who had no one to love them so and no one whom they loved so, I thought. (2.11)
Annie feels pity for anyone without a mother. It wouldn't be too strong to say that Annie worships her mother like a divine being.