How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Here's where my account of the fire diverges from the truth. I had, indeed, been writing, but the Horrors alone know what possessed me to stumble into the library. What made me call up the fire? (12.96)
Again Briony asks herself questions about her recent past that would be easier to answer if her memories were not split and cloudy. Anyone else having trouble answering these questions she keeps asking? That's probably because Briony makes sure we know even less than she does about the truth.
Quote #5
But after Eldric had finished, the reflection-slices returned. I saw Stepmother and the white pillow and the black hair and blood and spit. I saw myself too, saw my own bird hands holding a spoon. My hands were feeding Stepmother. (13.81)
Reflection slices? Is that like slices of a mirror? Not exactly… More than once, memories of Stepmother on her deathbed come to Briony in slices, or incomplete pieces. She continually tries to avoid these memories as they often make her feel sick to her stomach.
Quote #6
The smell of sickness had infected the room. I memory-smelled it, a bloated oozy smell, toad-scum, stagnant water. It crimpled the underside of my tongue. I memory-smelled eels. Eels in eel broth. That was a sick-making smell. Where was my mint-and-apple Brownie? (20.49-50)
What's that smell? Briony refers to "memory-smell," which seems to suggest that there is something she cannot or will not remember that has to do with eels. These hints of Briony's past prove there might be something else dark lurking there. How do eels smell anyway?