How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Margaret Kochamma never forgave herself for taking Sophie Mol to Ayemenem. For leaving her there alone over the weekend while she and Chacko went to Cochin to confirm their return tickets. (13.99)
It's interesting to think about how much blame gets thrown around for Sophie Mol's death. It seems everyone has a part in it. Margaret is willing to blame others, but she still blames herself for coming to Ayemenem in the first place.
Quote #5
It was only later, when the world collapsed around them, after Sophie Mol's body was brought to Ayemenem, and Baby Kochamma unlocked her, that Ammu sifted through her rage to try to make sense of what had happened. Fear and apprehension forced her to think clearly, and it was only then that she remembered what she had said to her twins when they came to her bedroom door and asked why she had been locked up. The careless words she hadn't meant.
"Because of you!" Ammu had screamed. "If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here! None of this would have happened! I wouldn't be here! I would have been free! I should have dumped you in an orphanage the day you were born! You're the millstones round my neck!" (13.101-102)
Much like a delicious chocolate cake, this quote is made up of layers of guilt. We see Ammu quietly blaming herself for the "careless words" she said to the twins without meaning. By blaming the twins for her circumstances, she is putting guilt on their shoulders, which ultimately pushes them to run away.
Quote #6
[Margaret Kochamma] never forgot her irrational rage at the other two younger children who had for some reason been spared. Her fevered mind fastened like a limpet onto the notion that Estha was somehow responsible for Sophie Mol's death. (13.167)
Margaret Kochamma doesn't even know why Estha might be responsible for Sophie Mol's death. (It was his idea to cross the river, after all.) But that doesn't stop her from blaming the twins and hating them for living while her daughter died.