How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
There were still people lined up waiting. I started walking along the line. The end was a lot farther away than I thought. The line turned all the way around two corners, then crossed over one street before I saw the last person. (6.3)
People waiting in line to get free meals at the local mission were a frequent sight during the Depression (take a peek at our "Best of the Web" section to check out a photo). It could take a really long time to get something to eat, if you were able to get food at all. This shows how desperate people were, and it also shows what kinds of odds Bud is up against in his search for a better life.
Quote #5
Writ about their car in fancy letters it said, THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE AMERICA TODAY! (6.32)
The contrast between all the starving, poor black people standing in line at the mission and the billboard above them with the rich, white family trying to convince people that things are not as bad as they seem is a good example of irony. The point is that life isn't as great as the billboard wants people to believe. Some people may be lucky, but most are suffering, and a lot of people are suffering so much they're standing in line for hours for food.
Quote #6
It was a bunch of huts and shacks throwed together out of pieces of boxes and wood and cloth. The Amoses' shed would have looked like a real fancy house here. (8.33)
"Hoovervilles" were shanty towns full of the poorest homeless people during the Depression trying to scrape together a place to live. People were so poor, that Bud is seeing how "good" he had it in that shed. If that isn't depressing, we don't know what is.