How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
At the time of our birth the probationer was not yet eighteen, with a tendency to confuse penmanship and keeping a neat medical record (and thereby pleasing Matron) with the actual care of patients. (1.2.12)
The idea of compassion in medical care is an important one in Cutting for Stone. The probationer is probably the person who is most responsible for Sister Mary Joseph Praise's death, since she was more worried about following rules than about seeing what was in front of her and feeling any compassion.
Quote #5
There was a question the chief examiner had posed to him when he appeared for the Royal College of Surgeons viva voce after passing his written examinations in Edinburgh: "What first-aid treatment in shock is administered by ear?" His answer "Words of comfort!" had won the day. (1.2.37)
This is the lesson that the probationer needed to have learned before she ignored Sister Mary Joseph Praise's pain. She doesn't understand that being a nurse doesn't mean being inhuman. Dr. Stone seems to have learned the lesson on paper, but we're not sure he has figured out how to apply it.
Quote #6
As angry as she'd been with him, the depth of his grief and his shame moved her. (1.10.38)
Hema is the person in the novel who shows the greatest extremes of emotion. She is so furious with Dr. Stone that she could kill him, but at the same time, she's able to put herself in his shoes and feel compassion, forgiving him for the pain he's caused because he's experiencing so much pain himself.