How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Father watched the prow of the scaly broad-beamed vessel splash in the sea. Her decks were packed with people. Thousands of male heads in derbies. Thousands of female heads covered with shawls. It was a rag ship with a million dark eyes staring at him. A weird despair seized him. [...] He watched the ship till he could see it no longer. Yet aboard her were only more customers, for the immigrant population set great store by the American flag. (2.2)
Father, who is always upset by change, sees a boatload of it coming across the Atlantic. And even though it means more customers for him, because immigrants always want to prove themselves patriotic, he feels fear that the America he is leaving is not the one he'll come back to.
Quote #2
They were despised by New Yorkers. They were filthy and illiterate. They stank of fish and garlic. They had running sores. They had no honor and worked for next to nothing. They stole. They drank. (3.1)
Here Doctorow uses his technique to show the thoughts of common New Yorkers about immigrants, which is also a good way to show the prejudices immigrants were up against.
Quote #3
But somehow piano lessons began to be heard. People stitched themselves to the flag. They carved paving stones for the streets. They sang. They told jokes. (3.2)
After presenting the common misconceptions about immigrants, Doctorow transitions to this paragraph, where he begins to tear those misconceptions down and present the immigrant population as a hard-working people trying to fit in to their new home.