How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"But I've the Gift. It helps me see more clearly than most. I knew I must meet Master Alan…I don't ignore my Gift when it calls me." (2.194)
George has a nice, sensible approach to magic: he pays attention to his Gift when it sends him an intuition or forewarning. That seems much better than Alanna's attitude, which is to pretty much ignore her Gift until she super-needs it or until it bites her on the butt. (Not literally, of course. We think.)
Quote #5
Alanna found that she couldn't sleep because she couldn't forget Maude's warning to use her Gift for healing. She knew the gods punished people for ignoring magical abilities. Yet the thought of using sorcery gave her the shakes. (4.16)
Poor Alanna, not wanting to use the magic that the gods gave her at birth. Own it, girl! She quits feeling emo about it when one of her friends dies from the Sweating Fever, though. Nothing like death to make you buck up and realize that it's selfish not to use your abilities to help others.
Quote #6
"My mother died having Thom and me. She had the Gift too. Father was angry—he thought their magics should've saved her. So he said he wouldn't ever use his Gift again, and we weren't to use ours. We weren't even to be taught how to use it; but Maude, the village healer, taught us in secret." (4.120)
Some of Alanna's aversion to using her Gift comes from her family history (which, incidentally, helps explain why her father is so distant). It just goes to show that people will blame anything for their misfortunes: magic didn't save Alanna's mom, just like modern technology and medicine won't save any number of people in our world. But that doesn't mean we should all hate technology, right?