How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I'll tell you another thing about Jamaica that I learned: It was a poor place, a very poor place. The poor folks were the poorest I'd ever seen, and that includes those backwoods folks in the South (5.25.14)
There's poverty and then there's poverty—Bessie never really realized the difference until she went on this trip. This helps Bessie appreciate not only the relative ease of her own upbringing, but the well-being of her people back home.
Quote #8
Us Negroes, well, we knew what it was like to hit bottom, anyway. For my people, hardship was a way of life. The Great Depression was just another crisis. (5.25.22)
If there's one advantage to living through hard times, it's that it helps you better handle things going down the toilet. That's little consolation for an individual, but there's no doubt that hardship—if overcome—can ultimately strengthen a community.