How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
This body, like my aunts' bodies, was born to be worked to death, used up, and thrown away. (14.7)
Bone is talking about her aunts' bodies, even though her uncles do hard manual labor. Why does the women's work age them more quickly than the men's work? Maybe it's because the women never get a break: they have to work (and worry) 24/7. When it comes down to it, they're the ones keeping their families together.
Quote #8
"You don't think it's cruel the way he takes up with these children? He's never divorced a one of them, never stays with any of them more than a few months. God knows how many babies he's planted." (18.47)
We're getting two different perspectives again here: Bone is on Earle's side, and Raylene is against him. Why do you think this argument is in the novel? Are we meant to take sides on this issue?
Quote #9
"All this time, taking care of him, loving him, giving him children and meals and clean clothes and loving him. Loving him, and him to talk to me that way." (19.33)
Alma's breakdown foreshadows the novel's climax in some ways: in this moment, Alma is confronted with the fact that her husband has been downright cruel to her, despite the fact that she feels like she has spent a good amount of her life taking care of him. Anney, too, is going to face a similar dilemma when she sees Glen raping her daughter. Alma's breakdown shows how crushing a revelation like this can be.