How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
On the ninth night, four of the sixteen passengers and one of the crew came down with a fever whose flesh signs were rose spots that appeared on the second febrile day and that arranged themselves like a Chinese puzzle on the chest and abdomen. (1.1.14)
This is one of our first tastes of the medical language that Marion will use throughout the novel. He reads the "flesh signs" like we read his metaphors. In case you're wondering, "febrile," means having to do with a fever. Look how the illness becomes an image: the spots are "rose" and "arrange themselves," as though they had powers.
Quote #5
Sister Mary Joseph Praise lay in agony on her narrow cot. Her lips were blue. Her lusterless eyes were focused beyond his face. She was deathly pale. He reached for her pulse, which was rapid and feeble. (1.2.29)
Up until now, most of the suffering described in the novel has been on a collective level: all of the ship's passengers, for example, were suffering the same thing. Now, Sister Mary Joseph Praise is going it alone. Her "agony" in this case means that her suffering probably won't ease until she buys the farm, if we read the signs like blue lips, dull eyes, and a weak pulse.
Quote #6
A herd of mules overladen with firewood trotted along, their expressions docile and angelic in the face of the whipping they were getting from the barefoot owner who ran with them. (1.6.42)
When Hema comes back to Addis Ababa, she takes in the familiar sights that she might have missed while she was in India. Mostly, she notices human beings, some suffering, and some happiness, but this image of the mules being whipped and overworked reminds us that humans can make each other suffer pretty easily—but we're also good at spreading it around to the rest of the animals.