How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
When they were sure the twister had finally gone, Patience and the other women laughed nervously. The children whimpered. Mother Barker's husband, the foreman, and the only man in the field, adjusted his straw hat on his head. (1.16)
The field where Patience harvests cotton is filled with women… but they're watched over by a man.
Quote #2
The women hummed together like light coming together after the sun had risen noon high, while pain and wonder wrapped around each of them in the humming. And the pain sat down on Patience and smothered her.
"Oh glory."
"Push."
Each woman felt the pain.
"Push."
Each woman felt the pain and wonder as old as time, as old as the sound of the women themselves as they rocked together, humming. Who could push pain away?
"Breathe deep, more deeper."
"Push down. Harder, I say." (2.15-22)
As Patience labors, the women come together almost as a unified body. Yes, Patience is technically the one pushing the baby out, but the women around her are right there with her, completely caught up in the experience of birth. Notice how we don't know who says what here—the women cease to be differentiated in this moment.
Quote #3
They were particularly interested in the new baby, Abyssinia. They women of Ponca City considered themselves midwives-in-common at her birth.
She filled their conversations.
"Remember it like it was only yesterday," one of them commented.
"Born in the cotton field."
"Came here marked, too."
"Marked by fire!"
"Baptized with the fire!"
"Foreman built the fire."
"Boiled water for the birthing."
"Patience spread out on her pallet of cotton sacks."
"And here comes our baby."
"An ember jumped out of the blaze and branded the child.
"Marked at birth!"
"A birthmark."
"Placed the new child on a soft sack of cotton."
"Laid her in a cotton manger."
"A black girl in a manger."
The women sat rocking on their porches. They wanted to hear each other's version of what the new child meant.
Now and then the people could hear the cries coming from Patience and Strong's house. Baby Abyssinia was a special project for the Ponca City women. (3.1-19)
Just like during Abyssinia's birth, here we again have women's voices blending together, creating a sort of larger-than-life female presence that transcends any individual perspective or contribution. Importantly, the only distinctive individual is Abyssinia. As the women discuss her, Abby is both apart from and a part of the women of Ponca City.