How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #4
And what if you find it gone altogether? You make a fuss. If anybody has come along to listen to you, you bewail the loss. (8)
Munro does an awesome job at being real. Grace might certainly feel sad or disappointed to find the Traverses' house gone, but there is also some level of relief she might feel in finding the Traverses' house is no longer there. Sure, Grace might feel sadness, and she will express it if she feels it, but that's not all she'll feel. It's moments like these that help flesh out Munro's characters to make them so believable.
Quote #5
Mr. Travers, when he referred to this time in her life before he met her, spoke of it as a time of hardship almost like penal servitude… (9)
Although Mrs. Travers thinks of it differently, Mr. Travers has a negative view of his wife's previous marriage. How do our emotions and attachments influence our perceptions of how things have changed?
Quote #6
Grace didn't want to think ahead at all. She wanted life to continue just as it was now. (33)
Ah, the fleeting beauty of youth, a time when everything seems new and exhilarating—until it's not. At the start of Grace's reflections about that summer long ago, she remembers the feeling of never wanting anything to change. But as the story continues and tragedy strikes, we wonder if she felt the same way at the end of the story. The final line, about how the check was enough to guarantee her a start in life, suggests that she might have been ready for some changes. Aside from experiencing personal tragedies, how else are we discouraged from being satisfied with life "just as it is now"?