How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #4
But I'll tell you, what really gets me is, I can't decide which color I am. I mean, my father was a black, a real black—oh, he had some white blood, but he was a black—and my mother was a white, and I'm neither one. See, my father really hated my mother because she was white. But he also loved her. But I think she loved his being black much more than she loved him. Well, where does that leave me? I never have figured out."
"Brown," he said gently, standing behind her chair.
"S*** color."
"The color of the earth." (7.123)
Wow, this discussion of Heather and race is crazy awkward. But let's try to work through it to figure out why it's uncomfortably racist. To begin with, what on earth does it mean for Heather's dad to be "a real black"? Why does Heather's mom have a black fetish? Also, we hate to point this out, but it it's a longstanding stereotype—and racist argument against interracial marriage—that children born to interracial couples are confused and upset about their place in society. At least George doesn't agree that Heather is "s*** color," we guess...
Quote #5
They came from every part of the earth to work at the World Planning Center or to look at it, from Thailand, Argentina, Ghana, China, Ireland, Tasmania, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Honduras, Lichtenstein. But they all wore the same clothes, trousers, tunic, raincape; and underneath the clothes they were all the same color. They were gray. (9.13)
Does this make sense to you? If everyone in the world were gray, would that also somehow mean that all culture would be eradicated? Why or why not? Are race and culture connected? (Be careful—that one's a can of worms, folks.)
Quote #6
Haber's paeans of triumph made Orr uneasy, and he didn't listen to them; instead, he had searched his memory and had found in it no address that had been delivered on a battlefield in Gettysburg, nor any man known to history named Martin Luther King. But such matters seemed a small price to pay for the complete retroactive abolition of racial prejudice, and he had said nothing. (9.18)
What do you think? Is it worth it not to have things like the Gettysburg Address or people like Martin Luther King, Jr. in order not to have racism? Or would humanity have reaped more benefits from struggling through this problem and having people like Lincoln and King to help them through it?