How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I don't know exactly what started the riot… that party, he said, where they sent out invitations to whites to come see a colored man burn alive. Gistan said thousands of whites turned up. (5.29)
It's quotes like these that make the smaller-scale violence of the individual characters in Jazz look like the behavior of relatively stable people. It's one thing to go shooting your lover or cutting a dead girl's face if you live in a world without disgusting acts of hate-fueled, racist violence—but when there is a "party" to see a "colored man burn alive," well, the entire world is freaking horrific. We just threw up in our mouth a little bit.
Quote #8
He isn't thinking of harming her, or, as Hunter had cautioned, killing something tender. She is female. And she is not prey. (7.38)
Here we have the testimony that would have gotten Joe a few less years in prison for Dorcas's murder: It was not premeditated. He doesn't want to harm her, because she is both way younger than he is (tender) and female.
Quote #9
In his coat pocket is the forty-five he pawned his rifle for. He had laughed when he handled it, a fat baby gun that would be loud as a cannon. Nothing complex; you'd have to fight your own self to miss, but he isn't going to miss because he isn't going to aim. (7.41)
And here's the testimony that would have complicated Joe's trial (if there had been one) big time. He says he doesn't intend to kill her, but he swapped his hunting rifle for a forty-five? Hmm… that's fishy, Joe.