How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
His father, finding him exhausted, vomiting on the river bank: "You think that river is some mud puddle you can wade right into without a thought?" And then, his father beating him with his belt: "A boat wouldn't go into that water not knowing how the currents run. (Whack!) I'm not saying you can't swim it (Whack!), as good a swimmer as you are. (Whack!) But you have to study it, you have to practice. You have to know you're ready. (Whack-whack-whack!) I'll even give you a prize, anything that won't cost me to spend some money. (Wham!)" (1.28)
This is our first introduction to what Jones is like… and it's definitely clear that he's not a coddler. But you've got to wonder: Is M.C.'s inability to swim across the Ohio River really worth a beating? (Is anything worth a beating like the one Jones is giving M.C.?)
Quote #5
As if in a trance, M.C. gazed out over the rolling hills. He sensed Sarah moving through undergrowth up the mountainside. As if past were present. As if he were a ghost, waiting, and she, the living. The sensation startled him out of his trance. Fearfully he willed Sarah back to her grave.
At once his father and mother, brothers and sister sprang to life in his mind. (2.14-15)
Who do you opt for—the living or the dead? This tension between the past and the present comes up again at the end of the book, when M.C. digs up his ancestor's burial ground to make a wall. Why is it an important tension at all though? Why is M.C. so easily overtaken by thoughts of his dead Great Grandmother Sarah?
Quote #6
Macie Pearl and M.C.'s brothers could swim well enough to care for themselves in the water.
But if one of them did commence to drown…
Don't think about it. M.C. frowned.
They didn't know how lucky they are. Swimming. Playing. Without a worry for food or nothing. (2.35-38)
M.C. is your classic oldest child. Even though he's only thirteen, he bears the burden of looking after the younger kids and shares the worries of his parents.