How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"I'm not eager for it either, Jeth, not by a long way. I've got a lot of plans for the next forty or fifty years of my life, and being a soldier is not part of any single one of them." (4.81)
The war put a big ol' wrench in Shad's life plan, but we have an inkling he's not alone in that feeling. At least he's got a lot of years left to revamp things.
Quote #5
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we was to hear all of a sudden that the war was over, Jeth? Wouldn't it be pure pleasure to hev things like they used to be, with John and Bill close brothers agin, Tom and Eb carryin' on in their crazy boy ways, and Shad back a-teachin' and lookin' bashful at little Jenny?" (5.15)
Sounds more like Nancy wants to hop in a DeLorean and go back in time. Even if the war ends immediately, the chances of life returning to exactly how it was before the war are slim to none.
Quote #6
"I used to dream about the nice home Shad and me would have and how I'd keep it bright and pretty, how I'd wait of an evenin' to see him comin' down the road toward home. Nowadays I don't make any plans; I just don't dare to have any dreams for fear someday a soldier will come home and tell us that he was standin' beside Shad, the way Danny was standin' beside Tom—" (7.40)
Poor Jenny wakes up to the reality of how war could permanently take Shad away from her. That's not saying that at one point she didn't have those nice dreams of being happily ever after with him, but once she had the real life experience of being told the news of Tom's death, she realizes that it's quite possible that Shad could meet the same fate. Talk about a buzz kill.