How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I reached into the bucket and brought out my dragoon revolver. I dropped the bucket and held the revolver in both hands. I said, "I am here to take you back to Fort Smith … If you refuse to go I will have to shoot you." (7.12, 8.18)
Mattie may be thirsty for vengeance, but she's still only going to fire her gun as a last resort. Is she less gritty than she seems—or is this a sign that she's one of the only good people in the entire novel?
Quote #8
He shook me like a terrier shaking a rat. "Tell me another lie and I will stove in your head!" Part of his upper lip was missing, a sort of gap on one side that caused him to make a whistling noise as he spoke. Three or four teeth were broken as well, yet he made himself clearly understood. (7.45)
Gee, nice guy. He picks up a fourteen-year-old girl and shakes her like a rat—while threatening to pound her head in. We don't approve of violence, but we're not sorry that Ned Pepper ends up dead—and we don't think anyone else is. It's a brutal world out in Indian Territory.
Quote #9
He flung me to the ground and put a boot on my neck to hold me while he reloaded his rifle from a cartridge belt. (7.47)
Ned Pepper just doesn't let up. In fact, of all the nasty, violent guys in the book (and yes, Rooster, we're counting you), Ned is probably the worst. To him, other people are literally just roadblocks and stepping stones.