You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong.
-- Mrs. Jones (N/A)

Importance: This quote is from Mrs. Jones when she decides to take the boy back to her house after he attempts to steal from her. It is significant because it shows Mrs. Jones’s abrasive personality but also foreshadows how she will become a maternal figure for the boy by the end of the story.

But you put yourself in contact with me. If you think that that contact is not going to last awhile, you got another thing coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.
-- Mrs. Jones (N/A)

Importance: Mrs. Jones says these words to the boy after he asks her to let him go. Here, she teaches the boy his first lesson: that he has to take responsibility for his actions. Furthermore, her assertion that he will remember her...