How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"My mom cried," Private Hollister said, sounding more comfortable all of a sudden, like the topic of girls crying was a lot easier one for him to handle. (7.30)
Is it just us or is this silly? We totally support anyone—man or woman—who cries when a brother dies. That's a normal response. Hollister doesn't think of it that way, though. It's more comfortable for him to talk about his mom crying because girls are supposed to cry (at least according to him).
Quote #8
Why did I think it would impress the Colonel to have a man-to-man conversation about TJ, especially when I wasn't a man and what TJ did or didn't do wasn't actually my business? Well, I saw it as a taking-the-bull-by-the-horns opportunity. The Colonel was behaving in a mystifying way. (8.9)
Notice how Jamie uses the word man to talk about something serious and logical. When she wants her dad to be straight with her, she has to act like a man in order to pull it off. She doesn't intend to make a big statement about gender here, but she does anyway in the way she thinks about things.
Quote #9
They'd pull Private Hollister's notebook right out of his top desk drawer and run their fingers down the rows of numbers, adding it all up. Most of them were rooting for me, because I was so much younger and a girl, I guess. (10.1)
Gin Rummy is serious business, especially in the army, and Jamie's got game. She might only be twelve, but she knows how to play a mean hand, and Hollister knows it, too. Yet, we see that the soldiers—including Hollister—doubt her at first. This is partly to do with her age, and partly to do with her gender.