How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Don't you slap my mother. That's my mother. You slap her again, you black bastard, and I swear to God I'll kill you."
[...]
"You cursed me," said his father. (1.1.187-91)
So, this might be getting old but, once again, violence leads to more violence. After Gabriel hits his wife, Roy feels the need to defend her, threatening not just to slap his father but to kill him in retaliation. What's interesting is that Gabriel is more upset by the violence of the insult, "bastard," than by the murder threat.
Quote #8
Then his father raised his belt, and it fell with a whistling sound on Roy, who shivered, and fell back, his face to the wall. But he did not cry out. And the belt was raised again, and again. The air rang with the whistling, and the crack! against Roy's flesh. (1.1.196)
Gabriel decides to punish his son for cursing him, and takes off his belt and gives him a beating. The description here of the sound, the whistle and crack, calls to mind the sound of a whip, which in turn reminds the reader of the treatment of slaves in the south. This connection might point to a legacy of violence that reaches from the time of slavery into the 20th-century black families of America.
Quote #9
One had been dead for nearly fourteen years—dead in a Chicago tavern, a knife kicking in his throat. And the living son, the child, Roy, was headlong already, and hardhearted: he lay at home, silent now, and bitter against his father, a bandage on his forehead. (2.2.1105)
Gabriel's sons seem destined to meet violent ends. When the first Royal is killed in Chicago it's not such a surprise; he's an orphan who has never had anyone caring for him. But when Roy is stabbed, it must seem like a curse. Gabriel has been there all along, teaching and raising Roy, but he seems to insist on a violent life.