Tar Beach Memory and the Past Quotes

Me, Cassie Louise Lightfoot, only eight years old and in the third grade, and I can fly. (10)

Yep, that's the present tense all right. We have officially traveled back in time to 1939-ish.

But still he can't join the union because Grandpa wasn't a member. (13)

Unions used Mr. Lightfoot's heritage as an excuse to not admit him into the union. Gross.

And Mommy won't cry all winter when he goes to look for work and doesn't come home. And Mommy can laugh and sleep late like Mrs. Honey. (16-17)

In her fantasy, Cassie's mom doesn't cry. That suggests she did cry in real life…which is terribly sad.