Imagining Imagery

1. "Cameron's preparations wouldn't have mattered much, though, since a good hunk of the Gulf of Mexico essentially lifted itself up and then topple over right on the low-lying town." (p. 98)

Mary uses this to help us visualize just how hard Cameron was hit by the hurricane. She really helps you see what they were seeing on he news reports in the following days.

2. "Mother had left us at home because she was hurt. For her, being hurt meant drawing into herself. (Old joke: What's the loneliest place in Louisiana? Bayou Self.) And that's where I have to leave her, alone on the dark highway with the cacti rearing up and falling back down as she passes" (p. 103)

This is another example of Mary showing both her adult side and her child side almost at the same time. While talking about her mother dealing with grief she stops for a second to tell a joke. Then immediately goes back to being serious. This is one of the many times she's done this during the book.

3. "... that picture of Grandma's pale arm with the ants would rear up behind my closed eyes. With it came a low humming in my head---a sound like a crazy cello player sawing the same note over and over, or like a zillion bees coming up out of the ground." (p. 103)

This quote is referring to Karr's insomnia after her Grandma's death. She not only lets you know that she has this insomnia but she describes it so well that you can almost imagine lying there at night with the same feeling.

4. "And why would God set Death loose among us like some wind-up robot destroyer if he loved us so much?" (p. 106)

This quote shows her going back and forth between child and adult vocabulary again. She does that to show us how she is losing faith/has little faith in God due to the events happening around her

5. "She was carrying a sketch pad the size of a small card table, like she was planning to draw the fishermen, but I knew with a cold certainty while I stood ankle-deep in that lukewarm water that she was climbing up there to get drunk." (p. 109)

This interests me because this is the second time in the book that Mary's mother has brought her sketchpad as a cover to drink. It makes me wonder how much of closet drinker she actually is. It seems we will find out eventually.

6. "In fact, that was the same humming sound our car tires had made when Mother either did or didn't try to crash through the guardrail and fly us screaming down to the river."(p. 103)

This is yet another quote relating to Mary's insomnia but this one especially made me think about whether or not she was trying to take the car over the edge. I think this could be some foreshadowing for later. We'll find out soon enough I guess.

7. "I was sure in my sleep that Lecia was fixing to die, which is why, I guess, I slept so deeply. I had wished her dead a thousand times, even prayed for it, no less fiercely than I'd prayed for Grandma to die." (p. 117)

This quote just makes me wonder where Mary's head is. She's already got family history against her as far as Nervous-ness and this just makes me wonder is she's heading in the same direction or if this is just her childishness showing through again.

8. "She's reaching over for the steering wheel, locking onto it with her knuckles tight. The car jumps to the side and skips onto the sidewalk. She's trying to take us over the edge. There's no doubt this time." (p. 138)

This of course answers my previous foreshadowing question because it makes it quite clear here that she is trying to kill everyone in the car. This really signifies what so far is the pinnacle of her Nervous-ness.