How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"If Grace gets poisoned, if all these trees die and this land goes to hell, you'll just go somewhere else, right? Like the great pioneers, Lewis and Clark. Well, guess what, kiddos, the wilderness is used up." I walked around my little square of floor like a trapped cat. "People can forget, and forget, and forget, but the land has a memory. The lake and the rivers are still hanging on to the DDT and every other insult we ever gave them." (21.21)
So, wait, you can't actually just ignore and forget trauma and push it down and repress it and make it go away by ignoring it? Who knew? Somebody should tell Sigmund Freud...
Quote #5
I felt a little embarrassed for my blunt interrogation. And the more I thought about it, even more embarrassed for my utilitarian culture.
"The way they tell it to us Anglos, God put the earth here for us to use, westward-ho. Like a special little playground."
"Loyd said, "Well, that explains a lot."
It explained a hell of a lot. I said quietly [...] "But where do you go when you've pissed in every corner of your playground?"
[...]
I remembered Loyd one time saying he'd die for the land. And I'd thought he meant patriotism. I'd had no idea. I wondered what he saw when he looked at Black Mountain mine: the pile of dead tailings, a mountain cannibalizing its own guts and soon to destroy the living trees and home lives of Grace. It was such an American story, it was hardly even interesting. (19.135-7)
This one's less about Codi's attempt to find a home in Grace than it is about her attempt to care about something enough to defend it. She's getting there, folks. Just give her a little more time.
Quote #6
"My students and I looked at the river water under microscopes, and the usual things that live in a river aren't there. Then we tested the pH of the river and found out it's very acidic. The EPA has tested it too, and they agree. But your trees knew all this way before we did. Watering them from the river is just like acid rain falling on them. [...] Usually there's a whole world of microscopic things living in a river, and in the dirt, and the air. If you were in an airplane and flew over a city and saw nothing was moving, you'd know something was up." (16.24-31)
Oh, Codi, we love it when you talk all sciencey. Codi is trying to prove that she's a worthwhile human being here. But these ladies already know.