How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Mmm," he said, looking down at my shoes. You have the grades. You're a pretty smart boy." He was thinking hard, but he kept staring at my shoes. They were my dad's old pair that had got chewed up by dogs when he left them outside. My feet slid around in two extra sizes of space. The tongue flopped out of the left, and a jagged crack split down the sole of the right from stomping on shovels. Neither shoe had enough lace to grip more than three rings. […]
I shifted the shoe with the floppy tongue behind the other, regretting I'd worn them. (3.10, 15)
Manny tells us outright that his family has money troubles, but we could also figure this factoid out from his shoes. Because his shoes are worn and too big for him, they're a dead giveaway that his family is trying to get creative with how they keep themselves clothed.
Quote #5
I leaned my chin on the dashboard and asked, "Rich people live out here, huh?"
"It's just another place to live," Mr. Hart said blandly, "middle-class, some upper."
I could tell by the quickness of his voice that he was disappointed that I was excited, except that I wasn't excited, but scared; scared of all the new kids I'd be meeting; different kids, the kind that lived in houses like these. (3.36-38)
When Mr. Hart is driving Manny home and they go through a fancier part of town, Manny gets some impressions of a life with more money. And the sign of more money in these parts is having a big house. Since Manny lives in the projects in a small house, he now has a comparison point for his own home.
Quote #6
The twenty-dollar bill Dad took from me went into his drinking bankroll. Once he started a binge, he wouldn't stop until every cent was drained from his pockets. (4.1)
The Hernandez family doesn't have much money, so it's a huge deal when Dad takes the twenty bucks that Mr. Hart gave Manny for school supplies and squanders it on drinks at the pool hall—it has the whole family feeling pretty mad. Manny's dad might think that his family is "pennies" compared to million-dollar folks, but he's certainly not helping to save some extra cents here and there. Heck, he's even treating Manny like he's worthless by taking his school money.