How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #7
Finally John Grady asked him if it were not true that should all horses vanish from the face of the earth the soul of the horse would not also perish for there would be nothing out of which to replenish it but the old man only said that it was pointless to speak of there being no horses in the world for God would not permit such a thing. (1645)
The old veteran Luis contrasts the communal soul of horses with the separation between human beings, ascribing a kind of eternal quality to the soul of a horse and its identity. Luis' refusal to even consider there being no horses seems telling—what kind of a worldview does it suggest? How might that be different from the world of humans, or the relativism of belief suggested by John Grady above?
Quote #8
[John Grady] claimed that cowsense could be bred for. The hacendado was less sure. But there were two things they agreed upon wholly and that were never spoken and that was that God had put horses on earth to work cattle and that other than cattle there was no wealth proper to a man. (1862)
Solid career advice: quit school and get yourself to a ranch ASAP.
Quote #9
I thought you didnt believe in fate.
She waved her hand. It's not so much that I dont believe in it. I dont subscribe to its nomination. If fate is the law then is fate also subject to that law? At some point we cannot escape naming responsibility. It's in our nature. Sometimes I think we are all like that myopic coiner at his press, taking the blind slugs one by one from the tray, all of us bent so jealously at our work, determined that not even chaos be outside of our own making. (3436-7)
What might Alfonsa mean by fate being subject to its own laws—is there a cause-and-effect relationship there? Or is it more like an unresolvable paradox? Why?