How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Childhood memories are sometimes covered and obscured beneath the things that come later, like childhood toys forgotten at the bottom of a crammed adult closet, but they are never lost for good. (Prologue. 16)
This just makes sense, but it's beautiful imagery too. Think about some of your oldest memories—it's hard to, right? Unless you're thumbing through an old photo album, or digging through your parent's attic, memories tend to lie dormant until something triggers them, though then they're right there.
Quote #2
If you'd asked me an hour before, I would have said no, I did not remember the way. I do not even think I would have remembered Lettie Hempstock's name. But standing in that hallway, it was all coming back to me. Memories were waiting at the edges of things, beckoning to me. Had you told me that I was seven again, I might have half-believed you, for a moment. (Prologue. 31)
This is a phenomenon that becomes truer the older you get. Someday you might return to your high school for a reunion, and although your memories are a bit hazy, you will step inside and suddenly boom—you remember those hallways like the back of your hand, and you remember things that happened there as if it were yesterday. Places where you spend a ton of time, especially during formative years, will remain ingrained in your mind for far longer than is really necessary. Memory is funny that way.
Quote #3
Lettie Hempstock's ocean. I remembered that, and remembering that, I remembered everything. (Prologue. 42)
Sometimes your memories just need a little nudge, and then they'll come pouring forth faster than you can process them. For the boy (who's now a middle-aged man), seeing the pond and remembering that Lettie called it her "ocean" was the opening of those flood-gates… or there's more of a supernatural element to it all. Maybe just physically being present on the farm makes the memory-wipe that Ginnie performed temporarily lift. Which do you think?