How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
While a little wary yet of lurking Fallouts, Francis had sufficiently recovered from his initial fright to realize that the shelter, notably the desk and the lockers, might well be teeming with rich relics of an age which the world had, for the most part, deliberately chosen to forget. (2.13)
As early as Chapter Two, we can see the novel is taking the long view when it comes to time. Francis views something as simple as a desk and a locker the same we might a clay pot from an Egyptian tomb.
Quote #2
To escape the fury of the simpleton packs, such learned people as still survived fled to any sanctuary that offered itself. When Holy Church received them, she vested them in monks' robes and tried to hide them in such monasteries and convents as had survived and could be reoccupied, for the religious were less despised by the mob except when they openly defied it and accepted martyrdom. (6.15)
This passage links Francis's era (the 26th century) with Europe's Early Middle Ages, a.k.a. the Dark Ages. America and Britain replace the fallen Roman Empire, the Simpleton movement stands in for the Goths, and the Catholic Church represents, well, the Catholic Church. Sure, there are significant differences, but the idea of history repeated is present all the same.
Quote #3
"Those years were spent to preserve this original. Never think of them as wasted. Offer them to God. Someday the meaning of the original may be discovered, and may prove important." The old man blinked—or was it a wink? Francis was almost convinced that the Pope had winked at him. "We'll have you to thank for that." (11.45)
Ah, foreshadowing. The Pope's comments are on the mark, but if time is cyclic in nature, will Francis want to be thanked for preserving such knowledge in the world? Read on, intrepid reader, read on.