How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The jailer cut her down and revived her; then he beat her, whipped her. She had hung herself with her dress. She had fixed it all right, but when they arrested her she didn't have on anything except a dress and so she didn't have anything to tie her hands with and she couldn't make her hands let go of the window ledge. So the jailer heard the noise and ran up there and found Nancy hanging from the window, stark naked, her belly already swelling out a little, like a little balloon. (1.14)
We really want to give Nancy a hug (and a time machine, so she can get out of the uber-racist pre-Civil Rights South). This quote illustrates how she lives a life fraught with fear. Her desire to kill herself apparently stems from her fear of the repercussions of her pregnancy, but at the same time, she is too afraid of suicide to commit it. Fear traps her. The story tells us that right from the first section.
Quote #2
"I can cut down the vine it did come off of," Jesus said. (1.18)
The one time Jesus actually shows up on stage in this story, he demonstrates his fear-inspiring qualities. He's ready to cut off the penis of whoever impregnated his wife. Yikes.
Quote #3
"You'll leave me alone, to take Nancy home?" mother said. "Is her safety more precious to you than mine?"
"I wont be long," father said.
"You'll leave these children unprotected, with that Negro about?" (1.49-51)
The main reaction we might have to this passage is to become disgusted at the mother for her indifference to Nancy's fate. No matter what we think of the mother, however, the passage still conveys a sense of menace: What is Jesus going to do? Kill someone? The story hits us with suspense right in the first section.