How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
All of them, mother and father and four children, looked healthy, robust—everything about them solid, authentic; but I was looking at ruins, and I knew it right then. The actual fall of this Rome I hoped not to be around to see, but just in case I could not make my own quick exit I planned to avert my eyes (4.4).
Okay, comparing the break-up of one little family to the fall of Rome might seem just a tad over the top. Lucy's comparison, though, makes clear just how, for better or for worse, central the family unit is to life in the U.S.
Quote #8
My leaving began on the night I heard my father had died. When I had left my parents, I had said to myself that I never wanted to see them again [. . .] I had wished never to see my father again, and my wish had become true: I would never see my father again (4.10).
Hmm, let's try putting the pieces of this puzzle together. Why does the death of Lucy's father become the catalyst for her decision to leave her babysitting job?
Quote #9
I wrote my mother a letter; it was a cold letter. It matched my heart. It amazed even me, but I sent it all the same. In the letter I asked my mother how she could have married a man who would die and leave her in debt even for his own burial. I pointed out the ways she had betrayed herself. I said I believed she had betrayed me also, and that I knew it to be true even if I couldn't find a concrete example right then (4.48).
Way to kick a gal when she's down. Lucy's letter may seem harsh, for sure. But it does suggest that a tragedy might inspire family members to be more open and honest with one another.