-Obviously Mary is still affected by the Hurricane. She starts to become an outcast with her classmates.
"Maybe I hung on the sand because I remembered Daddy's warning. I do recall kicking around the shorebreak and wondering very specifically what Mother was drinking and how much."(113)
-Mary's mom has become a closet alcoholic and her drinking is starting to affect the family.
"I was sure in my sleep that Lecia was fixing to die, which is why, I guess, I slept so deeply. I had wished her dead a thousand times, even prayed for it, no less fiercely than I'd prayed for Grandma to die."(117)
-This is truly a dysfunctional family.
"I sat in the back of Uncle Frank's white convertible going home with Lecia blubbering nonstop in front bucket seat and him putting his hammy hand on her shoulder every now and then, telling her it was okay, to just cry it out."(99)
-It seems that when Mary is in Uncle Frank's car, she escapes into her own fantasy world. She portrays Uncle Frank as her father and someone to look up too.
"For a minute, I even think about Mother propped up in her bed night and day next to a tower of books that only seems to get taller and more wobbly."(125)
-It appears Mary's mom is getting worse and worse each day. Eventually she is going to snap and the pile of books will come tumbling down.
"When she wakes up, we'll be pulling into our driveway. She'll rake her fingernails all the way down Daddy's cheek, drawing deep blood so he looks for days like some leopard's paw has gone at him."(139)
-It's clear now that the first time they spun out on the bridge it was intentional. Charlie's Nervousness has completely taken over her actions.
"I muster all my courage to look out my window at the long drop down. It makes my stomach lurch. The steel girders jerk by my window in a fast staccato. In the distance, I can see two flaming refinery towers. They make a weird Oz-like glow that bleeds up the bottom part of the sky. It's a chemical-green light, the color of bread mold, rising up the night sky like a bad water stain climbing wallpaper."(138)
-This is exactly like when the red ants were crawling up the arm of their dead Grandma. The blood like ants and blood like Oz glow must signify death.
"What ws running through my head, though, was that song the munchkins sing when Dorothy's house lands on the witch with the stripy socks: Ding Dong the witch is dead. I knew better than to hum it out loud of course, particulary with Lecia making such a good show, but that's what I thought."(99)
- Mary clearly had no pity for her Grandma. Her Grandma must have made her life a living hell fo Mary to not even feel sorry for her.
Good, funny images. You might go a bit further with the analysis. "This is truly a dysfunctional family" gets at the heart of the issue, but I'd love to see you talking about how Karr uses images metaphorically to heighten that. You do well to notice the teetering books which are analogous to Mary's mother's emotional state. Remember that there aren't secret mysteries in books; not everything directly symbolizes something else. But an accumulation of images, of phrases, contributes to an overall sense we get.
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