How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Outside Villa Villekulla sat Pippi, Tommy, and Annika. […] It was a warm and beautiful day toward the end of August. A pear tree that grew close to the fence stretched its branches so low down that the children could sit and pick the best little red-gold pears without any trouble at all. They munched and ate and spit pear cores out onto the road. (5.1)
This is kind of the idyllic view most people have of childhood: beautiful summer days spent outside, green grass, trees swaying in the breeze, ripe pears, friends, and freedom from the adult world of work and bills and responsibilities. This is also the kind of childhood Astrid Lindgren thought kids should have—one where they were free to be kids, spitting pear cores onto the road. (We'd like to advocate for a little of this time for adults, although we're okay without the spitting.)
Quote #5
"We'll have this for our secret hiding place," said Tommy. "Nobody will know that we are here. And if they should come and hunt around outside for us, we can see them through the crack. And we'll have a good laugh." (5.72)
Did you ever have a secret fort? Or a clubhouse? Or a treehouse? Or a clearing in the woods that only you knew about? There's something really cool about having a special place of your own where you can gather with friends—or just go by yourself—when you're young. As people get older, it doesn't seem quite as necessary or intriguing. (We don't know a lot of thirty-somethings with secret hiding places.) Why do you think that is?
Quote #6
The door opened and the two tramps came in. You can imagine that they opened their eyes when they saw a little red-headed girl sitting all alone on the floor counting money. (8.7)
As Thunder-Karlsson and Bloom demonstrate, older people tend to view younger people as naïve, inexperienced, and incapable of taking care of themselves. As Pippi demonstrates, that's a pretty narrow view.