Marked Family Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

I wanted to scream how the hell would any of us know what my father was going to say, we haven't seen or heard from him for fourteen years! But I knew it wouldn't do any good, and it always just made her mad when I reminded her that John was not my "real" father. (2.63)

When Zoey's mom plays the but-what-will-your-father-say card, Zoey gets mad. Her biological father hasn't been in her life for years, and she resents the implication that her stepfather is somehow filling that same role. At the same time, her mom's total loyalty to her stepfather feels wrong to Zoey, because she can see through his "nice guy" act to the control freak underneath. In short, Zoey's got a lot of family issues.

Quote #2

"No, Mom. What I'm saying is that I want you, for once, to put what I need before what he wants. I want you to be my mama. To help me pack and to drive with me to this new school because I'm scared and sick and I don't know if I can do it all by myself." (2.72)

Zoey is asking her mom to, well, be a mom and help her out in a time of crisis. Because even though Zoey's already sixteen, being Marked and having to move to the House of Night is big/scary enough that she wants her mom's help navigating that change. It's kind of like how some parents help their eighteen-year-olds move away to college: That's just what you do for your kids, even when your kids are practically grown up. Except apparently that doesn't apply in Zoey's family, though.

Now if you'll excuse us for a moment, we need to call our moms.

Quote #3

"No, Mother. The truth is that because of him you haven't paid any attention to your kids for three years." (2.77)

Frustrated by her mom's unwillingness to help her figure out what to do after she's been Marked, Zoey lets loose. Normally Zoey would back down in an argument with her mom, but now she decides to rant about how her siblings have been lying about being happy in order to get away with stuffs. At the same time, Zoey is honest about how she doesn't pretend that they're a perfect family, and for that she always gets in trouble. Well, no more.