Blanche Passes Go Quotes

“Blanche’s mind rang with remembered slights and taunts, and”
― Barbara Neely, Blanche Passes Go

“Her questions about whether Palmer would have raped her if she hadn’t been taking a forbidden bath on the job, if she’d remembered to lock the bathroom door, if she had tried to fight despite his knife—all her secret worry that it was these mistakes, her mistakes, that had caused her rape—were revealed to her as utter and total bullshit. If she’d been strutting down the street buck-naked, he didn’t have a right to touch her. No. If that woman across the street told her husband he was the worst fuck in history and gave him dog food for dinner, he didn’t have a right to hit her. No. Just because women were blamed for everything but good luck didn’t give nobody a right to do them wrong. And it didn’t mean they were supposed to take it when they were done wrong. All this woman-hurting shit had to stop. “Stop!”
― Barbara Neely, Blanche Passes Go

“How could he ever be her friend and not understand this very basic part of who she was? Would he have a friend who chose to marry someone who hated people with Down’s syndrome? But, of course, white folks in this country are trained to believe they can have it both ways, like stealing the Indian’s land while claiming to admire the Noble Savage. “Listen,”
― Barbara Neely, Blanche Passes Go