How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Mama and Daddy Glen always hugging and rubbing on each other, but it was powerful too. Sex. Was that what Daddy Glen had been doing to me in the parking lot? Was it what I had started doing to myself whenever I was alone in the afternoons? (5.68)
As in the last quote, Bone is trying to sort out just how many forms sex can take. She seems to have come to a broader understanding here, but she still words it in terms of a question that she doesn't have an answer for. Also, she is realizing that sexual attraction is "powerful," which is a word that can have both good and bad connotations (foreshadowing, anyone?).
Quote #8
The sound of Mama crying grew softer, faded. In the stillness that followed I heard Daddy Glen whispering, heard a murmur as Mama replied. Then there was a sigh and a creak of their bed as he comforted Mama and she comforted him. Sex. They were making love, Mama sighing and sobbing and Daddy Glen repeating her name over and over. (8.21)
Imagine how Bone must feel listening to her mother and Glen having sex (like that isn't awkward enough) right after he has beaten her. It's like adding salt to the wound. There are definitely multiple occasions in the novel where we feel like Anney is choosing her desire for Glen over her obligation to protect Bone, so it'd be incomplete not to acknowledge the role sex plays in Anney's reluctance to leave Glen—or rather, the fact that they have an intense, interdependent relationship. If their sex life shows anything, it's that.
Quote #9
I could not tell Mama. I would not have known how to explain why I stood there and let him touch me. It wasn't sex, not like a man and woman pushing their naked bodies into each other, but then, it was something like sex, something powerful and frightening that he wanted badly and I did not understand at all. Worse, when Daddy Glen held me that way it was the only time his hands were gentle, and when he let me go, I would rock on uncertain feet. (8.26)
There is a lot of guilt and shame associated with sexual abuse, even when it's pretty clear (to us) who the victim is. It's not just that Bone is young and doesn't really understand her abuse in this case; it's also that she's afraid she will be blamed for it. We've already seen Anney blame Bone when Glen beats her, so really there is a precedent for Bone feeling this way. Also, we know that Bone has some really mixed-up feelings about the abuse. Obviously she hates it, but since it's an inescapable fact of her life (since Anney keeps going back to Glen), she isn't sure of how to deal with it.