How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph) or (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Do your job! Go tell him! That's what you for—to help white folks keep n—s down. That's why he sent you to me. They be calling you mammy in a few years." (4.11.114)
Alice accuses Dana of betraying her entire race when Dana tries to convince Alice to sleep with Rufus. Little does Alice know that Dana is her descendant and that Dana will never be born unless Alice gives in to Rufus' advances.
Quote #8
In fact, [the South Africans] were living in the past as far as their race relations went. They lived in ease and comfort supported by huge numbers of blacks whom they kept in poverty and held in contempt. (5.1.105)
Dana returns to 1976 from the past only to discover on the news that things haven't changed all that much for certain parts of the world. South Africa didn't get rid of its racist apartheid system until the early nineties, which goes to show just how much racism can continue to pervade society even when we don't notice it.
Quote #9
"You don't want to hear me, get out of here. The way you always suckin' up to that woman is enough to make a body sick." (5.7.26)
Alice doesn't let up when she's mad at Dana. She criticizes Dana for sucking up to Margaret Weylin, but Dana just wants to do whatever she can to stay out of trouble. Scenes like this just go to show that not all the conflict in this book is between black people and white people. Much of it is between black people or between white people.