How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She hated Geraldo and it was right for her to hate him. Attacking him was different from turning her anger, her sorrow, her loss of Claud into self-hatred... (1.91)
This is one of the first statements about morality in the book, and it emphatically argues that hate is virtuous. Of course, Geraldo is awful, and is trying to hurt Connie's niece. Still, it's striking that good is portrayed as hating evil because it's better than hating yourself. This is not what you usually learn in school (at assembly today, we will practice hating. Best hater wins a good conduct sticker!).
Quote #2
"It's tender, end-of-mothering. Comprend, we sweat out our rituals together. We change them, we're all the time changing them! But they body our sense of good." (6.92)
The sense of good Luciente is talking about is dropping a 12-year-old in the woods, making her find her own way home, and then having her parents not talk to her for three months. Shmoop is skeptical that this is a good or moral thing. But it would mean parents didn't have to live with adolescents. Maybe that is ideal.
Quote #3
"How interesting," Magdalena said politely, with her head cocked. "Our notions of evil center around power and greed—taking from other people their food, their liberty, their health, their land, their customs, their pride. We don't find coupling bad unless it involves pain or is not invited." (7.103)
Connie is shocked when she sees a couple of 7-year-olds having sex (or trying to). Magdalena says that violence and taking from people is bad, but not sex (unless it involves violence or taking from other people). Does Magdalena's argument make sense?