How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
With no one to talk to, she mumbled to herself, "Buffalo… stink, stank, stuck… liberty… slave… Mississippi Liver." She tried to string these new words with the old ones in sentences, but she had no more success than a blind man threading beads. (4.5)
Even when she's down and out (read: other kids won't play with her), Shirley keeps up trying to fit in. She works on improving her English by talking to herself, even if no one will talk to her and even if she fails. Hopefully, with her better language skills, she can chat up a storm with future pals.
Quote #2
The next day everyone was assigned a poem to recite. Shirley was not. She decided to learn one away. Over and over she played the new record Father had bought for her, imitating each sound until she was certain she could repeat a stanza. Then, locking herself in the bathroom, she practiced before the mirror. (4.24)
Shirley isn't given a poem to recite in class, probably because she doesn't speak a lot of English, but she wants to do so, regardless. She works really hard to memorize exactly what she hears on the record. Determined to fit in with her friends-to-be and her classmates, Shirley will stop at nothing to do what they do.
Quote #3
Her clothes were torn and dirty. Her knees and elbows were bleeding. And she was no closer to becoming a skater than when she had started. Never mind. She couldn't wait for tomorrow. (4.85)
Shirley wants to skate like the other girls at school, so she spends all day teaching herself to do so. She gets banged up and hurt, and doesn't figure much out, but she's still determined to get back up on that horse and do it again so she can become "one of the kids."