How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
We want to know if you are one of us, if your cousin knows our cousin, if your little sister went to school with our big brother, if you go to the same Baptist church as our ex-boss. We are looking for ways our stories fit together. It was rare, though, for Negroes to ask white people where they're from, because there was nothing much to be gained from it, as their stories weren't that likely to link up (6.33).
Lily is discussing the Southern tendency to ask people where they're from as a first step in fitting a new person into one's own "stories." Although she claims that the "stories" of African Americans and white people have rarely met up, she's certainly writing one in which they do . . .
Quote #5
Laying the Bible in her chair, she said, 'It's been a while since we've told the story of Our Lady of Chains, and since we have visitors who've never heard the story of our statue, I thought we'd tell it again.'
One thing I was starting to understand was that August loved to tell a good story. 'Really, it's good for all of us to hear it again,' she said. 'Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here' (6.58).
As we already know, Lily is correct; August loves stories. Here, she explains why: Stories are powerful, allowing the people who tell and hear them to understand their place in the world better.
Quote #6
'You mean you've never heard of Willifred Marchant?' he said. 'She is only a world-famous writer who wrote three Pulitzer Prize books about the deciduous trees of South Carolina.'
[…]
'Deciduous trees are an interesting topic, I guess. But I myself would rather write about people' (7.132-137).
This is a conversation between Lily and Zach about Tiburon's (fictional) Pulitzer Prize winner. Lily is really starting to think about becoming a writer at this point, and this conversation brings that fact out.