How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Did police put their fists in women's faces so the husband's spirits would break along with the women's jaws? (3.64)
Yet another ugly symptom of racism in turn of the century America, folks. But this gross observation is embedded in what Alice finds comfort in: that God's wrath will smite down those who do evil. We guess you need to find comfort in something if you live in such a mixed-up world.
Quote #5
She had never picked up a knife. What she neglected to say—what came flooding back to her now—was also true: every day and every night for seven months, she, Alice Manfred, was starving for blood. Not his. Oh no. For him she planned sugar in his motor, scissors to his tie, burned suits, slashed shoes, ripped socks. Vicious, childish acts of violence to inconvenience him, remind him. But no blood. Her craving settled on the red liquid coursing through the other women's veins. An ice pick stuck in and pulled up would get it. (3.83)
And this is why Alice doesn't hate Violet: She knows what it's like to feel violent urges after being cheated on or left for another woman, and like Violet, she directs the anger and violence not at the man but at other women. Turns out Alice is not as sickly-sweet as she lets on. And to that we say: Hooray! Complicated characters are so much better than plain old good or bad ones.
Quote #6
It bounced off, making a little dent under her earlobe, like a fold in the skin that was hardly a disfigurement at all. She could have left it at that: the fold under the earlobe, but that Violet, unsatisfied, fought with the hard-handed usher boys and was time enough for them, almost. (4.2)
You have to feel badly for Violet here. She's trying to exact revenge on a dead girl (newsflash: Violet is not the sanest crayon in the box) and she ends up just giving her a glorified ear piercing. So she does the next-best thing and engages in a little boxing match with the ushers. Oh, Violet.