How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Dolores Engracia Ramirez lived in her own little house on the upper edge of Tortilla Flat. She did housework for some of the ladies in Monterey, and she belonged to the Native Daughters of the Golden West. (9.1)
Here we can see the complicated relationships between the classes of Tortilla Flat—and between Tortilla Flat and Monterey. While within Tortilla Flat Dolores is an important figure (she belongs to a ladies club and owns her own house), she's of a lower class in Monterey, where she's a housekeeper.
Quote #8
When Sweets heard that Danny was an heir, she was glad for him. She dreamed of being his lady, as did every other female on Tortilla Flat. In the evenings she leaned over the front gate waiting for the time when he would pass by and fall into her trap. But for a long time her baited trap caught nothing but poor Indians and paisanos who owned no houses, and whose clothes were sometimes fugitive from better wardrobes. (9.5)
We can see that Mrs. Morales wasn't the only one who was interested in Danny's new status: Sweets wants in on the action, too. She compares Danny, who's a paisano, to the Native Americans and paisanos who don't own houses, showing that due to the fact that he owns a lot of stuff now, Danny's in a new category, one that goes beyond race.
Quote #9
But their envy could do nothing against the vacuum. Through its possession Sweets climbed to the peak of the social scale of Tortilla Flat. (9.39)
This is hilarious, but its sincerity is also kind of sweet. Sweets is given a vacuum that she can't even use because she doesn't have electricity. This shows us the limits of her economic power, and also of her social class, because the electric company hasn't made it to her neighborhood yet. But none of that matters, because just owning the vacuum is enough to change her status among her neighbors.