How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
“I know that kid. He’s a white Jew.” Neeley had heard papa speak so of a Jewish bartender that he liked.
“They ain’t no such thing as a white Jew,” said Neeley said the big boy.
“Well, if there was such a thing as a white jew, said Neeley with that combination of agreeing with others and still sticking to his own opinions, which made him so amiable, “he would be it.”
“There never could be a white Jew even in supposing.” (1.90-93)
Racism is particularly nasty when you hear it coming from young kids. They pick up what their parents believe and don’t even know what they are saying. It is one of the ugliest things of the time… do you think it's improved since then?
Quote #5
Francie liked the organ grinder better. Every once in a while a man came around lugging a small organ with a monkey perched atop it. They monkey wore a red jacket with gold braid and a red pillbox hat strapped under his chin. His red pants had a convenient hole in them so that his tail could stick out. Francie loved that monkey. She’d give him her precious penny-for-candy just for the happiness of seeing min tip his hat to her. (13.52)
Street musicians were common sight in Brooklyn during this time. Sadly, the organ grinder monkey is something that you don’t see very much anymore.
Quote #6
Following the kitchen, there were two bedrooms, one leading into the other. An airshaft dimensioned like a coffin was built into the bedrooms. The windows were small and dingy gray. You could open an airshaft window, maybe, if you used a chisel and hammer. But when you did, you were rewarded with a blast of cold dank air […] This arrangement supposedly supplied light and air to the bedroom. But the heavy glass, iron fencing and dirt of many years refused to filter light through […]
There were vile things cluttering up the bottom. Since this bottom couldn’t be reached by man (the windows being too small to admit the passage of a body), it served as a fearful repository for things that people wanted to put out of their lives. Rusted razor blades and bloody cloths were the most innocent items.” (15.16-17)
The airshaft is a way that the builders got around the building codes that required all rooms to have a window in them. It is an example of the horrible conditions the poor of time endured, and an invitation to consider ways in which the poor get treated, well, more poorly than wealthier people.