How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
He tried to imagine what kind of woman she would be in fifty years. Would she be Thérèse? Or Ondine? Or Rosa or Sally Brown, or maybe even Francine, frail as a pick tearing all her hair out in the hospital. (9.284)
When Son looks at Jade, he wonders what kind of woman she'll eventually turn into. The one thing he never imagines, though, is that Jade will turn out to be a very successful, totally self-sustaining person. The idea of a woman living life for herself and no one else seems to be completely outside Son's world of possibility.
Quote #8
She thought she was rescuing him from the night women who […] wanted her to settle for wifely competence when she could be almighty, to settle for fertility rather than originality, nurturing instead of building. (9.287)
Jade wants to travel the world and do amazing things with her life. But she realizes that the women from Son's hometown just want her to settle down and be a wife and mother. Jade will never be able to consent to this because she would see it as giving up. Nonetheless, she can't help but feel judged by the women who have led this kind of life.
Quote #9
[If a girl] never learns to be a daughter, she can't never learn how to be a woman. I mean a real woman: a woman good enough for a child; good enough for a man—good enough even for the respect of other women. (10.84)
For Jade's aunt Ondine, a girl can never learn to be a proper woman unless she understands and accepts her duty toward her family. If a girl never learns this, she'll never make a good mother, because at some point, every woman needs to learn how to live her life for someone else. For Ondine, this is required if a woman ever plans on being respected by other women.