How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
She'd already made me see her maman in my mind's eye. Now I saw how much brighter the diamonds blazed on her mother's darker throat. I saw these two families, their faces lit from the brilliant stage of the opera house that I supposed was like a great showboat gone aground. (14.6)
We know that Jules Duval's white family pretends his family with Clemence doesn't exist, but we wonder what they really think. Seems like the one person this arrangement doesn't hurt is Jules himself, i.e., the one with all the money and all the power.
Quote #8
We packed our traps to leave Cairo forever. On the day we went, Mrs. Hanrahan sent down her handyman to take the crockery out of the summer kitchen and break every piece over the pump outside because Delphine had eaten and drunk from it. (14.30)
We get that Mrs. H. is racist, but this just seems like a poor economic decision. We never thought she'd buy new plates over this.
Quote #9
I waited for more and then said, "Why did Calinda leave?"
"Well, she was too dark to stay, wasn't she? I always thought she was the color of honey at the bottom of the jar. I expect she thought people would put two and two together, and it would give Delphine away. You know how there was always rumors about them." (15.20-21)
Calinda is afraid of giving Delphine away, and Delphine is afraid of giving her son away. It's a vicious cycle, this racism.