How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
The good deed and the height made her feel superior to the boys and girls playing stickball in the courtyard. All that effort just to hit and catch a silly little ball. All that hurrying just to step on a book bag. (5.2)
When she's clapping erasers for her teacher, Shirley removes herself mentally from her classmates. She pretends she doesn't want to be involved with the other kids, playing their trivial games. In truth, though, that's a lie—she really wants to be down there with them playing games, rather than on a separate pedestal.
Quote #8
Her classmates had plans, plans that included her clansmen, not her. (7.6)
Even after she makes friends, Shirley is alone for the summer of 1947. Everyone else has summer vacation plans, an American tradition, but she, still sometimes a "foreign" girl, doesn't. She's reminded of how different she is because her pals have family to go visit in the States… but, of course, Shirley's family is back in China.
Quote #9
Shirley hid her face in the pillow. She knew the answer. She was afraid her friends might have changed, just as change had come to her. (9.9)
Before Shirley goes back to school in September, she's afraid that she'll return to being the outsider in school. What if they're all different, just as she's changed a bit? Does that mean she won't have any pals? If there's one thing Shirley doesn't want, it's to go to back to the time before she put in all that work to make friends.