How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The disgust of the aunts at his marriage to a teenager from a family of nobodies dissolved with the almost immediate birth of his son. (2.25)
Valerian has vivid memories of the birth of his son Michael. More specifically, though, he remembers how quickly his aunts got over their objection to his wife when his son was born, because the family was too happy about having an heir to he candy factory fortune to care about Margaret being a child bride anymore.
Quote #5
Alone in the house, peeping into a room, it looked all right, but the minute she turned her back she heard the afterboom, and who could she tell that to? Not the coloreds. She was seventeen and couldn't even give them orders the way she was supposed to. (2.27)
As she sleeps, Margaret remembers being only seventeen years old when she first married the thirty-nine year old Valerian. She remembers being so modest and young that she couldn't even give orders properly to the black servants. Maybe she was precociously aware that ordering around servants was kind of a gross thing to do, or maybe she was just scared. Either way, she felt impotent.
Quote #6
She couldn't figure out why the woman's insulting gesture had derailed her—shaken her out of proportion to incident. Why she had wanted that women to like and respect her. (2.7)
Jade can't tell right away why she is so upset by the African woman who spat in her direction. Deep down, it's connected to her fears about not being "authentically black" enough. She feels like she could have felt more secure if this African woman had approved of her clothing and appearance.