How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Yes, I think so, in some ways. One wonders," he said carefully, his light brown eyes resting on Dicey's face, "if there isn't a strain of—mental weakness."
Was he reading her mind?
"Your grandmother's isolation—she has no phone, so the priest drove out from Crisfield to talk with her. She wouldn't let him into the house. She apparently screamed aloud so that she wouldn't hear what he was saying."
Dicey remembered Momma's strangeness and James's idea that craziness was inherited.
"I mention this to you because I want to tell you that, if it can be inherited, you have probably not inherited it. In my opinion," Father Joseph said.
"Are you sure?"
"No, of course not. But remember, you've already been through more trials than most people endure in a lifetime. You and James, you two at least, seem to have the strength and resilience to go on. Isn't that what sanity is?"
"I don't know," Dicey said. (1.11.53-60)
If Momma broke down because of their tough circumstances, Father Joseph could be onto something here. Dicey and James obviously have what it takes not to go out of their minds, but Maybeth and Sammy are having a tougher time adjusting to the difficult stuff in their path.
Quote #5
Dicey took the photograph. She looked at the vacant-faced woman lying in a bed, her hair cut off short and her hazel eyes staring at the camera without any expression, as if the camera and photographer were not there. Her face looked so flat and empty, so far away, as if it hung miles above the earth and could not be bothered by anything happening on the little planet below. (1.12.140)
Poor Momma. It's pretty interesting that Momma looks so distant. This is what Dicey had been sensing—Momma was drifting farther away from them every day—and now she is finally gone. Nothing can bother her now.
Quote #6
"What do you know about our grandmother?" James asked her.
"I think she's poor," Dicey said. "And maybe strange."
"Strange? Like Momma? Crazy?"
"Strange like all the Tillermans," Dicey said. (2.2.168-171)
These kids are used to crazy. Dicey knows that their family isn't quite normal and she's prepared to find someone who's not quite right in Crisfield. But she just has to check it out, anyway—just in case.