Memory and the Past Quotes in Cutting for Stone

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

I remember his words on full-moon nights in Addis Ababa when knives are flashing and rocks and bullets are flying, and when I feel as if I am standing in an abattoir and not in Operating Theater 3, my skin flecked with the grist and blood of strangers. I remember. (P.26)

The prologue has Marion explaining where he is now (Addis Ababa, clearly in a war zone) but also letting us know what the novel is going to be about: it's going to be all about his memory. Even while he's dodging bullets in the present, Marion is actually reliving the past, over and over again.

Quote #2

At such moments I remember to thank my twin brother, Shiva—Dr. Shiva Praise Stone—to seek him out, to find his reflection in the glass panel that separates the two operating theaters, and to nod my thanks because he allows me to be what I am today. (P.28)

Marion's brother is a memory because he died. We don't know yet how or why, but this mention shows us that the twins have split. The reflection probably looks just like Shiva, since Marion and Shiva were identical twins, but it's still just a piece of glass. Marion can't get to his reflection, just like he can't go back in time to get to Shiva.

Quote #3

In the ensuing seven years that she lived and worked at Missing Hospital, Sister Mary Joseph Praise rarely spoke about her voyage and never about her time in Aden. (1.1.83)

Whereas Marion has decided to sit down and write his entire past, including memories that don't even belong to him, his mother had a different approach. She experienced a terrible trauma in Aden, probably rape and kidnapping, and decided to bury her memories of the past, never looking back.