How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Honey, there's things you too young to unnerstand."
"I'm thirteen," he declared. "And you'd be surprised how much I know." (1.2.82-83)
Zoo is older than Joel and, due to her horrific husband, is also much more experienced. Their conversation clues us in as to why it's so important for Joel to seem manly and grown up—maturity is linked to wisdom. If Zoo thinks he's too young to understand certain things, then he needs to show her that he's actually old enough to be her equal.
Quote #5
Joel was used to compliments, imaginary ones originating in his head, but to have some such plainly spoken left him with an uneasy feeling: was he being poked fun at, teased? So he questioned the round innocent eyes, and saw his own boy-face focused as in double camera lenses. (1.4.68)
Just as above, when Joel insists that he's old enough to understand things, when he doesn't understand things he feels young. He's not sure how to take Randolph's comments, and that confusion knocks him into "boy-face" territory, reflected back from Randolph's eyes. It's as though, through the reflection, Joel could see himself as Randolph sees him: a little boy.
Quote #6
Florabel straightened up. "Please, sir," she intoned, her old-lady mannerisms frighteningly accurate. (1.5.35)
Joel isn't the only kid with something to prove around Skully's Landing. Florabel, too, seems to be modeling her entire persona after her mother, or even her granny. The way she talks, calling Joel "sir," and even the way she holds herself remind us that we learn how to be—how to be a kid, how to be an adult, how to be a man and/or a woman: by practicing.