How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Generation, regeneration, again, again, as in ritual, with blood-stained vestments and nail-torn hands, children of Merlin, chasing a gleam. Children, too, of Eve, forever building Edens—and kicking them apart in berserk fury because somehow it isn't the same. (24.24)
Quote #8
It was a troubled night, a night that belonged to Lucifer. It was the night of the Atlantic assault against the Asian space installations.
In swift retaliation, an ancient city died. (25.172-173)
As we discuss in our "Symbol, Imagery, Allegory" section, the novel's use of "Lucifer" connects the ideas of evil, knowledge, and technology in A Canticle. Here, Lucifer links these notions to death, by way of nuclear weaponry. Of course, if anything deserves all of those negative associations, all at the same time, it would probably be nuclear weapons. They're nasty buggers.
Quote #9
She still said nothing. He blessed them and left as quickly as possible. The woman had handled the beads with fingers that knew them; there was nothing he could say to her that she didn't already know. (28.37)
This powerful scene shows a woman struggling with her child's mortality in the face of society's laws, God's laws, and her own fears and desires. Perhaps this is a scene better felt than analyzed. Boom.