How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Title.Paragraph)
Quote #4
It has been twelve days since the hugging man came.
I have decided to stop counting the days until he comes back. (121.NotCounting.1)
The hugging man and Lakshmi experienced an intimacy and a tenderness that sticks with Lakshmi. Why is this human connection so much more meaningful than the experiences she has with the other men?
Quote #5
Then he hands me a pencil. It is shiny yellow and it smells of lead and rubber. And possibility.
"For you," he says. […]
How odd it is that I am undone by the simple kindness of a small boy with a yellow pencil. (123.AGift.2-3, 7)
Think back to when Lakshmi meets Auntie Bimla for the first time and she smells of "amber and jasmine and possibility" (33.Possibility.10). How is the idea of possibility here related to friendship and kindness instead of adventure and journey? And why does this kindness "undo" Lakshmi? Why is it this compassion instead of the horrible things she's experienced that makes her cry?