How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
My mind jumps hectically across the recollection of that last day. It lands at one memory and is horribly jolted, leaps for salvation to another, finds itself equally horrified. For this reason I've never liked recalling or speaking of that day. (17.7)
Is Gabriel's memory fading, or does he just not want to remember what happened in the past? He remembers very specific, minute details when it comes to all of his recollections, yet suddenly his memory halts. Something tells us it has more to do with his conscience than anything else.
Quote #8
I've spent this long day remembering; now it's night. My recollections have reached the place beyond which I don't wish to go. Yet there'll be no point to this exhumation if I do not continue it now. (19.1)
Sifting through the past wears Gabriel out. Check out the word he uses here: exhumation, as though he's bringing up a body from the ground. In some ways, this is literally happening with the discovery of the bones of his parents. In other ways, he's thinking about the process of remembering the past.
Quote #9
I shrug, unruffled—I remember. I remember standing in the forest with Surrender at my heels and the angel staggering off through the trees, tilting like a gravestone. I remember thinking, You'll regret this. "Listen!" I bark: I resent his accusatory tone. (20.7)
It should come as no surprise that Finnigan has a temper—he is the evil twin, after all. What is surprising here is that we get one of his memories, since the majority of the novel is consumed with Gabriel's notion of the past. Is this any different from Gabriel's memories?