How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"I'm sorry, Colonel. Your grandson will have to know about this. I prevented his having the phone taken out last week. Now it looks like I'll have to go ahead." (25.36)
So many people fear becoming childlike in their old age, and it's happened to Colonel Freeleigh: His grandson is acting as his parent. Based on the text of Chapter 25, you could argue that Freeleigh chooses death over living like this.
Quote #5
"I'm not really dying today. No person ever died that had a family. I'll be around a long time. A thousand years from now a whole township of my offspring will be biting sour apples in the gumwood shade." (32.33)
Insofar as family is connected both horizontally (think: siblings) and vertically (think: grandparents and grandchildren), we go forward endlessly, even after our own bodies give out.
Quote #6
"Death won't get a crumb by my mouth I won't keep and savor. So don't you worry over me. Now, all of you go, and let me find my sleep." (32.37)
Great-grandma Spaulding chooses to die alone, listening to her relatives moving about in the house, rather than have them stay by her bedside. Compare this to Doug lying on the porch listening to the grownups talk, taking comfort in their conversation without paying attention to what they're saying. Both are comforted by the incidental sounds of people in the world.