How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #7
SAM. I suppose it gets lonely for him in there.
HALLY. With all the patients and nurses around? Regular visits from the Salvation Army? Balls! It's ten times worse for him at home. I'm at school and my mother is here in the business all day.
SAM. He's at least got you at night. (1015-1020)
Hally seems cut off from all the intimate relationships that make up a home; he doesn't value the connections he has with the people he lives with. Sam's trying here to get him to have some empathy for his father despite his father's problems.
Quote #8
HALLY. (To the telephone) [. . .] (Loudly) I said I hope you know what you've let us in for! It's the end of the peace and quiet we've been having. (1459-1470)
"Peace and quiet"—finally something that Hally values. And if his dad coming home means the end of it, we can infer that his dad's presence is the opposite: violent and loud? We're slowly getting insight into what Hally's life is like with his father.
Quote #9
HALLY. [. . .] Yes, you do. I get it from you on one side and from him on the other, and it makes life hell for me. I'm not going to be the peacemaker anymore. I'm warning you now: when the two of you start fighting again, I'm leaving home….Mom, if you start crying, I'm going to put down the receiver…. (1492-1497)
Hally's threat to leave might sound harsh, but if you can dig past the angry words you can see that he himself is hurt. His whole childhood has been spent in the middle of his parents' arguments. He'd rather leave home than be there anymore.