How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"May wouldn't have wanted you caring for yourself, child. We brought you to this place to raise you up with our own hands, and she wouldn't want you having to look to your own needs. She'd want you to have somebody right here seeing after you." (6.47)
Summer may claim that she's okay with taking care of the homestead while Uncle Ob recovers, but he sees right through that. He knows that she needs to live like a kid and can't go on taking all these adult responsibilities.
Quote #8
I had not been in that house for five minutes yet, and already I'd learned so much. (8.23)
Seeing Cletus with his parents makes Summer realize that she's been wrong about him all along, and that she's been a jerk to treat him with such disdain. As Summer grows older, she begins to understand and have compassion for other people.
Quote #9
Something happened to Ob that day we left Putnam County and started back for home. Between the front porch of the late Reverend Young's and the concrete steps of the West Virginia State Capitol, something happened to Ob to make him long for living again. (11.7)
Uncle Ob may be an old man, but that doesn't mean he's done growing as a person. The trip to the capitol sparks something in him, and Uncle Ob finds a new part of himself—one that wants to keep living and learning.