How we cite our quotes: Paragraph
Quote #7
Hakim-a-barber said, "I accept some of their doctrines, but farming and raising cattle is not my style." (They didn't tell me and I didn't ask, whether Wangero (Dee) had really gone and married him.) (44)
Our narrator is, like, the total opposite of a meddling mother. She speculates (in a parentheses, no less) that her daughter may have gotten married, but she's not sticking her nose in to inquire about it, no sir and not even a little bit. Why do you think she doesn't just ask Dee what the story is with Hakim-a-barber?
Quote #8
Out came Wangero with two quilts. They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them… In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's Paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War. (55)
This quilt seems like a much more convenient way to remember your relatives than having to lug around family albums, doesn't it? Plus, it'd keep you a lot warmer. Beyond all this, the use of the clothing in the quilt shows that this is a really thrifty and resourceful family.
Quote #9
"She can have them, Mama," [Maggie] said, like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her. " I can 'member Grandma Dee without the quilts." (74)
Just when we were about to count Maggie out of the game of Life (both the board game and the real thing), she says something to reveal how much better off than Dee she may actually be. After all, if she can remember her grandmother without the quilts, she probably has a much stronger sense of family connection and kinship than Dee can ever hope to experience.