How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She was born and raised in France, a point of superiority to her way of thinking that made it hard for all of us, except Robby and Hoyt, to do anything but tolerate her. (5.5)
Aunt Agnès is the reason that Robby and Pearl are always using French words and thinking about how to translate particular phases. We'd also like to point out that Agnès thinks everything French is far superior to anything American.
Quote #2
"Where are you from?" Hoyt practically shouted in Spanish to the old vaquero in the back. The truck was loud with the windows down, sunshine and wind whipping us all, the motor roaring. But it wasn't just that. Uncle Hoyt, like just about everyone else, spoke louder in a foreign language, and I think he still thought Amiel was deaf. (5.27)
What is up with people talking slower and louder when talking to someone who doesn't share their language? Props to Pearl for pointing out how unnecessary this really is. You can communicate with people without bursting their eardrums no matter how much language is shared between you.
Quote #3
It was a thing we started doing back when our mothers got this idea that Robby and I should speak to each other exclusively in French, rendering me totally fluent and chic by, like, second grade and keeping Robby from the dreadful fate of growing up American. Robby was much better at Franglish than I was and could generally do more than "le" the heck out of things, but he wasn't in the mood. (7.4)
Using "le" in everything is one way for Robby and Pearl to mock the French way of speaking. They do this almost in response to Agnès's condescension. By taking part of her language (le) and mocking it, Pearl and Robby show how the nuts and bolts of language sound quite silly when taking out of context.