How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"The boy has to learn a lesson, he's far too headstrong."
"He isn't a boy anymore," Mother said.
"He's sixteen years old, that's a boy, Susannah."
"He's seventeen, Life. How old were you when you left home?"
"That was different," he growled. (7.5-9)
Even Sam's parents disagree about what it means to be a man. According to Sam's father, age makes someone a man. To him, Sam is too young to be an adult, so that makes him a kiddo. But Mama Meeker sees things differently. She figures that Sam has left home, and that makes him a man. Which parent do you agree with?
Quote #5
It seemed pretty exciting when we passed a house, especially if there were some people there. A couple of times there were children staring out the windows as we went by. It made me feel proud of myself for being a man while they were still children, and I shouted at the oxen and smacked them on their rumps with my stick, just to show off how casual and easy I was with oxen and how used I was to managing them. (7.30)
Check out Tim—he's quite the performer. But with all this showing off, we're wondering if Tim really knows what it means to be an adult. Do you think Tim is really a grownup here? Or is he just pretending to be one?
Quote #6
Ever since I had got the wagon home by myself I hadn't felt like a boy anymore. You don't think that things really happen overnight, but this one did. Of course I was dead tired when I went to bed that night, and Mother let me sleep late in the morning. And when I woke up I was different. I noticed it first at breakfast. Usually I sat there over my porridge moaning to myself about the chores I had to do or having to go to school or something, and trying to think of some way to get out of whatever it was. […]
But that morning after the terrible trip home, right from the first moment we got finished saying grace, I began planning the things I had to do—which things had to be done first and what was the best way to get them done. It was funny: it didn't even cross my mind to stall or try to get out of the work. (10.14-15)
Talk about pulling a 180. Tim goes from feeling like a kid to feeling like a grownup literally overnight. Well, that was a pretty harrowing experience he had with those cowboys. What do you think of this sudden change? Can anyone really grow up that fast?