How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
About all he had left at this point was his tremendous dignity. He was tall for a Japanese man, nearly six feet, lean and hard and healthy-skinned from the sea. Ten children and a lot of hard luck had worn him down, had worn away most of the arrogance he came to this country with. But he still had dignity, and he would not let those deputies push him out the door. He led them. (1.1.17)
Papa's an incredibly flawed person, but at this point in the book, he's being set up as the model for a strong man. Everything else that happens afterward needs to be compared to this moment, when he leads the deputies and not the other way around.
Quote #2
Papa had been the patriarch. He had always decided everything in the family. With him gone, my brothers, like councilors in the absence of a chief, worried about what should be done. (1.2.14)
Is it possible to run a family smoothly without a patriarch? That's a real question later on in the book because—arguably—the family does fine without Papa's presence in camp.
Quote #3
He gave us ten minutes to dress, then he came in carrying a broom, a hammer, and a sack full of tin can lids he had scrounged somewhere. Woody would be our leader for a while now, short, stocky, grinning behind his mustache. He had just turned twenty-four. (1.3.6)
Is Woody the better leader? Is he better than Papa at being a father-figure?