How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The chicken tastes like chicken, and the plum tart tastes like plum tart. It's too soon for there not to be one bit of ash. (12.40)
The sudden lack of "ash" taste in Gram's food is probably a sign that Gram is feeling okay. She's being social again, having cooked for all the Fontaine boys, and it looks like Lennie secretly resents her for not being as sad as she is.
Quote #5
I'm sure a shrink would love this, all of it, I think, looking over at Toby. She'd probably tell me I was trying to take Bailey's place. Or worse, competing with her in a way I never could when she was alive. But is that it? It doesn't feel like it. When I wear her clothes, I just feel safer, like she's whispering in my ear. (21.17)
This reminds us of another storyline in which the clinical description of something is not the truth the Walker family chooses to acknowledge: Lennie's mother. Lennie's mother's abandonment could be seen as stemming from some sort of mental health issue, but the Walker family chooses to think of it as Paige having the family "restless gene." Is this another case where Lennie should ignore the imaginary psychiatrist in her mind and write her own story? Or is there something to the idea of Lennie trying to take Bailey's place?
Quote #6
The truck blasts through the trees and I stick my hand out the window, trying to catch the wind in my palm like Bails used to, missing her, missing the girl I used to be around her, missing who we all used to be. We will never be those people again. She took them all with her. (28.72)
Check out the long sentence that moves from one thought to the next—it sort of reminds of cars passing Lennie and Toby as they drive. Also the length of the first sentence makes the second, short sentence stand out, giving it extra importance. Lennie realizes that everyone in her family has changed in major ways since Bailey's death.