How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The dark spiral turned and headed toward them.
Patience gasped and clasped her hands together tightly. Mother Barker began to pray. In a muted voice, as though afraid the tornado might hear her, she prayed for deliverance. (1.7-8)
Nature might not have intentions behind its actions, but tornados are definitely a source of violence in this book. The people of Ponca City are powerless against them, and tornados rip through town throughout the book, destroying everything from cotton fields to businesses to people's minds.
Quote #2
When she looked up, she did not recognize him because his eyes were not the same. All she could remember was something someone had told her about the eyes being the windows of the soul. What was wrong with his windows, she wondered. (9.25)
Abby is still a child when Brother Jacobs rapes her. The violence he commits against her is only worse because she doesn't seem to know such darkness exists in the world—she is confused by the shift in him, though she intuits that something is terribly wrong.
Quote #3
"It is not the physical wound I worry about," said Mother Barker.
[…]
"No, it's not the physical hurt that bothers me. I look in her eyes, and I see blood on the flower of her spirit," said Mother Barker. (9.44-48)
Brother Jacobs's attack on Abyssinia doesn't just hurt her physically, it wounds "her spirit." While her body will heal with medicine and time, the invisible damage is much more worrisome to Mother Barker.