How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
… her body seemed a cartoon of femininity, with a tiny waist, enormous sharp breasts that stuck out like the brassieres Connie herself had worn in the fifties—but the woman was not wearing a brassier. Her stomach was flat but her hips and buttocks were oversized and audaciously curved. She looked as if she could hardly walk for the extravagance of her breasts and buttocks, her thighs that collided as she shuffled a few steps. (15.4)
This is the evil, bad, no-good future. In the good future, men and women are just about the same; in the bad one, gender differences are exaggerated to cartoonishness. Instead of women gaining confidence, they are turned into sex dolls who can barely walk. Does the novel see femininity as bad? Or is only the extreme of femininity bad?
Quote #8
"Men and women haven't changed so much," she said… She was surprised by how cheerless that prospect seemed. (15.64)
The novel presents gender roles in the present as fairly awful. In Mattapoisett, on the other hand, things are changed around radically. The novel thinks that for a better future, we need better genders.
Quote #9
"Dolly, it's you who needs Nita. Sure, your mamá takes good care. But you need her with you. Without her, you don't love yourself. You use yourself like a rag to wipe up the streets. You turn your body to money, and the money to the buzzing of death in your head." (16.6)
Connie could be talking about herself here. She needs her own daughter; without her, she self-destructed (and is arguably still self-destructing throughout the novel). Note that Mattapoisett refuses to extend human lifespans because people want kids. The past needs the future as much as (more than?) the other way around.