How we cite our quotes: (Section.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I was so mad at my mother, Zelda, that I didn't write or call for almost two months. She should have gone up the nun's hill to the convent, like she wanted, instead of having me. But she had married Swede Johnson from off-reservation, and I'd arrived premature. He'd had the grace, at least, to go AWOL from army boot camp and never let his face be seen again. (1.2.15)
Both Marie and Zelda apparently thought about doing the convent thing before they started families. Marie's experience ended up going awry, of course, thanks to the wacko nun, and Zelda apparently was thwarted by maternity and "Swede."
Quote #2
No reservation girl had ever prayed so hard. There was no use in trying to ignore me any longer. I was going up there on the hill with the black robe women. They were not any lighter than me. I was going up there to pray as good as they could. Because I don't have that much Indian blood. And they never thought they'd have a girl from this reservation as a saint they'd have to kneel to. But they'd have me. And I'd be carved in pure gold. With ruby lips. And my toenails would be little pink ocean shells, which they would have to stoop down off their high horse to kiss. (2.1.1)
For Marie, being seen as equal to or as good as the nuns was pretty important. Apparently, Marie was super ashamed of having some Native American blood, and here she tries to kind of assure herself of a kind of democracy within religion/Catholicism that would help her make up for that "deficit"—after all, she could "pray as good" as the others, so she herself was just as good, right?
Quote #3
I had the mail-order Catholic soul you get in a girl raised out in the bush, whose only thought is getting into town. For Sunday Mass is the only time my aunt brought us children in except for school, when we were harnessed. Our soul went cheap. We were so anxious to get there we would have walked in on our hands and knees. We just craved going to the store, slinging bottle caps in the dust, making fool eyes at each other. And of course we went to church. (2.1.4)
Marie reflects on the origins of her enthusiasm for religion, which, before it was about proving her status/equality, was apparently just about getting to go into town and see everything—that was the big draw for her and the other children in her family.