How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"A tornado must be a woman," Abby decided.
The women on the porch clicked their agreement with their sewing needles. (19.22-23)
Abby comes to this conclusion during a conversation about Trembling Sally, shortly after a discussion about how Sally blames Abby for the tornado that destroyed her. Interestingly, Mother Barker assures Abby that they all know she didn't cause the tornado—and yet just a few moments later, Abby decides that "a tornado must be a woman," and all the other women agree. What do you think they're all identifying in this moment?
Quote #8
"Call the police, they look at you like you're some kind of old dog," Lily said.
"Have you tried that?"
"No. Winnie Mae told me about the time she tried talking to the law. They think you must like getting whipped."
Abyssinia took a piece of red flannel out of another pocket and soaked it in the steeped mixture.
"Maybe that's because nobody ever beat them," she told Lily.
"Women don't ever beat men," said Lily Norene. (27.9-14)
For all of the ways in which we are shown women are powerful in this book, this moment really drives home their powerlessness on a broader social level. Instead of seeing women who are beaten by men as victims, the cops see them as somehow asking for it. Ugh.
Quote #9
Soon the Ponca City women began to arrive. They came to join Abby in the celebration of the saving of the children's lives. They brought offerings of canned mulberries, okra, collard greens, smoked turkey, and hot pans of yeast rolls recently popped from the oven. They sat in a quilting bee circle stitching bedcovers for the orphans and listening to Abby tell how they had fled the fire and trudged through the snow to the safety and welcome of this residence that had belonged to the Barkers and which was now Abby's home. (30.6)
What happens after Trembling Sally tries to kill Abyssinia and Lily's daughters? Why the women of Ponca City rally together, of course, providing food and warmth and reassurance that their survival is a cause of celebration. You go, girls.