“Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty. Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane live in the green-and-white house. They are very happy." 

Morrison introduces the selection from the Dick and Jane primer in this quote. The quote represents the myths of respectability and the white nuclear family, two ideas that damage the black characters in the novel.

"It never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding. We had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as Pecola’s father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt. Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or despair.[…]There is really nothing more to say—except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how." 

Claudia MacTeer, one of the narrators of the novel, represents the innocence with which she and her sister viewed the rape of Pecola and the death of her baby. As an adult, Claudia explains the purpose for recounting the story—her effort to understand how Pecola's family and community failed to nurture the little girl. 

"So when I think of autumn, I think of somebody with hands who does not want me to die." 

Morrison uses the seasons of the years to organize the narrative. Claudia frequently comments on how her memories of the events in the narrative are tied to the seasons. Many of those memories are painful, difficult ones; her hard childhood memories underscore the degree to which racism and inequality shape the childhoods of African Americans. Nevertheless, Claudia notes in this quote the compensating factor of her mother's love.