Quote 7
"What about your girls? You've got to do something. Else they'll think that's what women are for—beating." (27.25)
Abyssinia implores Lily Norene to get herself away from her abusive husband, if not for herself then for her daughters who are growing up in a family in which women are used for little more than punching bags.
Quote 8
She told herself her father loved her.
"My father loves me, my father loves me, my father loves me." She repeated the words faster and faster and faster. (7.93-94)
After the tornado rips through town and destroys the Better Way Barbershop, Abyssinia decides she needs to see her dad for herself in order to make some sense of what's happened to him. As she heads out looking for him, she bolsters herself with the constant reminder that her dad loves her. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean he isn't on the first bus out of town.
Quote 9
Abby scanned the newspaper for events that might be interesting to the older woman. "Mother Barker, it says here that over in Ardmore the police shot another black man. Name of Teddy Walker."
"That's a shame. Read on, daughter."
Abby noted, as she read on, that it was called justifiable homicide. She could not fathom why they would call it justifiable until she got to the end of the article when mention was made that the police thought the victim was brandishing a gun. However, no gun was found.
"Well," grumbled Mother Barker, "they won't even say what happened to the dead man's family. There's some things that never get recorded." (6.80-83)
The key word to notice in the first paragraph of this quote is "another." In other words, Teddy Walker isn't the first black man shot by the police recently. And as Mother Barker notes, there's not even a mention of his family—an omission that suggests disrespect for both Teddy Walker's value, as well as the value of the people he's related to.