How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
The old woman across the way
is whipping the boy again (1-2)
The key word in these lines is "again." The woman is a clearly a, ahem, repeat offender. In addition, "again" is a word that describes something that has happened before, and by the end of this poem we learn that this woman has a long history with violence.
Quote #2
and shouting to the neighborhood
her goodness and his wrongs. (3-4)
While it seems at first that the woman is merely punishing the boy for who-knows-what (stealing cookies again?), the fact that she is obsessed with telling the whole world about her "goodness" makes us think there might be a deeper motive for her violence.
Quote #3
She strikes and strikes the shrilly circling
boy till the stick breaks
in her hand. (9-11)
These lines are really violent. Not only does the stick break, and the woman "strikes and strikes." The sounds of violence are everywhere. That S sound in "strikes" pops up several times—"strikes," "shrilly," "stick."