How we cite our quotes: (Part.Date.Paragraph) or (Part.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
God, I tried hard last week. My God, I tried. But now I know I am a coward. After the ridiculous deal I made with SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden, I know I am a coward. (1.8.XI.43.2)
This is one of the first things Julie tells us about herself. How does this admission affect how readers interpret her actions and motivations?
Quote #2
What's in my future—a tin of kerosene poured down my throat and a match held to my lips? Scalpel and acid, like the Resistance boy who won't talk? My living skeleton packed up in a cattle wagon with two hundred desperate others, carted off God knows where, to die of thirst before we get there? No. I'm not traveling those roads. This is the easiest. The others are too frightening even to look down. (1.8.XI.43.11)
This description is as bad as any horror movie we've ever seen. Does Julie actually choose the easiest road? What makes her path easier or harder than that of others? You might say that there just aren't any easy roads in this scenario.
Quote #3
She gently pried the handle out of Maddie's trembling hand and held the ridiculous umbrella up over both their heads inside the bunker. Maddie took a drag on the offered cigarette. After a while of alternately biting her nails and smoking the borrowed cigarette down to a sliver of paper and ash, her hands stopped trembling. Maddie said hoarsely, "Thank you." (1.10.XI.43.106)
In this excerpt, Julie helps Maddie through her fear during an air raid. Is Julie any less afraid than Maddie? Why might that be? Either way, that's what friends are for.