How we cite our quotes: (Story.Section.Paragraph) or (Story.Paragraph)
Quote #7
(Luna had made it a rule to date black men almost exclusively. My insistence on dating, as she termed it, "anyone" was incomprehensible to her, since in a politically diseased society to "sleep with the enemy" was to become "infected" with the enemy's "political germs.") (Luna.47)
This is an example of the personal-as-political at its finest. For activist Luna, walking the talk means taking her political beliefs all the way to the bedroom. Interestingly, sexuality also becomes a way for Luna to judge other people.
Quote #8
Laurel, who loved working among the grapes, and had done so up to the moment of leaving the orchards for Atlanta, had dirt, lots of it, under his nails.
That's it, I thought. I can safely play here. No one brings such dirty nails home to dinner. (Laurel.15-16)
The narrator is attracted to Laurel for heaven knows what reason in the first place, but here, she's pretty clear: Laurel is not a keeper. (You can't bring a boy with dirty hands home to your mama.) And that's actually a good thing because this girl doesn't want to be pinned down in a serious relationship. She's seeking nothing but pure pleasure from Laurel, which seems appropriate since they have nothing in common but chemistry.
Quote #9
Interracial couples were under surveillance wherever the poor things raised their heads anywhere in the city. We were reduced to a kind of sexual acrobatics on a bench close beside one of the dormitories. (Laurel.22)
The narrator and her squeeze, Laurel, are probably not thinking of the political implications of their interracial relationship in one of the most hostile places in the country—they're just trying to find a place to hook up. They basically take up wherever they can find a stationary spot. This recklessness proves that chemistry is chemistry, no matter where, when, or between whom. But it also foreshadows the bizarre behavior that puts the narrator in such an awkward spot later in the work.