How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Old Broken-Crow Redner made them," he said. "Made good snowshoes all his life. I come on them in a dinky little crossroads store over back of Gray." (18.22)
Birdy only mentions Old Broken-Crow Redner in passing, but details like this show how interested the novel is in capturing the region's diverse influences. "Old Broken-Crow" sounds like a Native American name, so the casual name-drop nods to another presence in the area—one that's notably absent from the rest of the book. Heads up if you ever have to do a big project on Edmonds: some of his other books deal with Native Americans more extensively, but they've been criticized for giving only stereotypical representations.
Quote #5
The Hulbert House was the biggest hotel in Boonville, where political visitors or sportsmen on their way into the woods put up. It had always looked very impressive to Tom, with its walls of gray limestone and a six-pillared portico, three stories high, with fancy railed balconies between them at the second and third floors. (23.4)
The Hulbert House is another place in town that Tom enters for the first time in the book. For a boy from a shabby home with a barn not "much more than a shack" (2.7), the expensive hotel is a pretty stark contrast. The difference highlights that even though there are only a few miles between town and the countryside, there are worlds of difference in some of the lifestyles.
Quote #6
"No idea what he paid for it. It's not worth anything, so he paid too much, that's sure. You get to be a lawyer in New York City and what you spend up in this country don't mean anything to you." (33.4)
We've been told time and again that the Breen property is no good for farming, but Mr. Armond buys it anyway. Why? Because the land is adjacent to his own property, so why not? Mr. Armond can afford to do something like that because he's a fancy lawyer from the city. When Mr. Armond arrives at his property every spring, he comes with an entourage of domestic staff, fine clothes, and all the latest models of wagons. It's a way different lifestyle than Tom's humble country upbringing—and even puts life in town to shame.