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Who was involved? What did they say? What did they do?
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(Lily
and May.)
-“I had nearly finished a glass of juice
Before I let myself look at the little highway of broken
graham crackers and marshmallow bits that May was constructing across the
floor, how it started at the sink and angled toward the door, thick with
golden crumbs, and smidges of sticky white.“
-May said, “ The roaches will follow this out the door,
It works every
time.”
-“I don’t know how long I stared at the line on the floor, at
Mays face turned toward mine, eager for me to say something, but I couldn’t
think what to say.”
-Lily felt a strange thick feeling inside. A memory.
She stood there waiting letting it come… “ Your mother was a
lunatic when it came to bugs, T-Ray had said. She used to make trails of
graham cracker crumbs and marshmallows to lure roaches outside.”
-“Lily looked and May and thought to herself, “My mother
couldn’t have learn the roach trick from
May. Could she?”
-Ever since Lily had stepped into the pink house, some part of
her had believed that her mother had been there.
-Lily asked May if she had ever known a Deborah
Fontanel.
-May replied with, “Oh, yes, Deborah Fontanel.
She stayed out therein the honey house. Se was the sweetest
thing. “ Then, she started humming
“Oh! Susanna.”
She got up slowly, starting to sniffle.
“I think ill go out to the wall for a little,” she said.
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Lily sat in the kitchen with August, June and Rosaleen. May
had been gone for five minutes when August got up and began to pace. August
walked out to the porch and the stared toward the wall. The women go out to
find May, but she is not by the wailing wall. –June you go tot the house and
call the police. Tell them we need help to find our sister. When you hang up,
you kneel before Our Lady and beg her to watch over May, and then you come
back. Were going to walk toward the river.” –I clutched frantically at Augusts’
arm, but she pulled free of me, threw down her flashlight, and waded into the
river.
- Lily went in after her and when she reached her, August was
starting down at her baby sister. “June,” She shouted. “June!”
- May lay in two feet of water with huge river stone on top of
her chest. It weighed her body, holding it on the bottom. Looking at her Lily
thought, she will get up now. August will roll away the stone, and May will
come up for air, and we will go back to the house and get her dry.
-When the police come, they interrogate Lily and tell her that
living with blacks is beneath her dignity.
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- Mary Day was a special
remembrance of for the Lady of Chains.
-They reenact her story and give thanks to the honey crop.
-They do this for two days of the year.
-The rest of the day is spent getting ready, decorating, and
baking. June shows up later that day with an engagement ring. Soon after the
Daughters of Mary arrive along with Zach and Neil.
-“They all seemed sunk into their meditating, or whatever it
was they were doing. Everyone’s eyes were closed, except Zach’. He stared
right at me.
-Lily glanced at poor shacked Mary. She couldn’t bear seeing
her like that.
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Why is this an important event?
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When Lily
discovers May tempting the roaches, Lily realizes that her suspicions were
correct. Her mother did in fact spend some time at the Boatwright’s house.
May is unaware of Lily’s interest in finding out about Deborah Fontanel, and
yet she is the one who gives Lily the confidence to as about her mother.
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Although Mays
suicide is violent and sad, her death leads Lily to positive realizations.
The trauma of Mays death disturbs Lily’s routine and causes her to realize
how happy she has become in the Boatwright’s house.
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-For August and June, losing May was a traumatic loss, but it
also helps them realize they have gained a type of sister in Rosaleen and a
type of daughter in Lily. I don’t think it was a coincidence that Mary Day
follows right after the mourning period for May. It allows them to act out
Mays dying wishes. The sisters being to live again.
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