her. Yet she still loves him. After he is put in jail, Ruth states her life philosophy.Were only passers-by, and all you can do is love what you have in your life. A person has to fight the meanness that sometimes comes with you when you are born, sometimes grows if you arent in lucky surroundings. Its our challenge to fend it off, leave it behind us choking and gasping for breath in the mud. Its our task to seek out something with truth for us, no matter if there is a hundred-mile obstacle course in the way, or a ramshackle old farmhouse that binds and binds. The Bible is right on one score: it doesn't do one bit of good to render evil for evil.(p.326)Even though Ruby and May hurt her in many ways, they taught Ruth a lesson. Ruth uses the death of her mother and the imprisonment of her husband as a motivator. This will help her recover from the tragic events that had occurred to make her a stronger woman.Ruths brother, Matt, led a different life than his sister. Although the same woman raised them both, and both lived in the same house, they ended up being two completely different people. Ruth talked about leaving and finding something better, but it was only Matt that actually left and found something better. During his childhood, Ruth repeatedly beat him up and made fun of him. This can be very painful for a kid the age of nine. But Matt ignores his bothersome sister and went to May, which was not the reaction that Ruth had expected. Ruth explains,He never mentioned the stings to me. He went straight to May to tell. Naturally she petted him-she always wanted to stroke his silky hair that covered up where his quick thoughts were made. Sometimes, when I had to be in my room for the salt I put in Matts milk, the tacks in his brownie, I cried, because the real punishment was Matt never noticing I was alive, like the numbers hes always looking at breathe the air and I dont.(p. 14)All the pain that Ruth imposed on Matt wa...
