How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Whump! The hawk hit only a few rods from where I was standing in the clover. Just the yonder side of a juniper bush where the clover wasn't nearby at all, and where it once had been open meadowland for pasture. He hit something as big as he was, pretty near. And whatever it was, it was thrashing about on the ground. Seeing his talons were buried in its fur, the hawk was being whipped through that juniper bush for fair. But all he had to do was hang on, and drive his talons into the heart or lungs.
Then I heard the cry. Full of pity it was, and it even made Pinky get to her feet. I'd only heard it once before, a rabbit's deathcry, and it don't forget very easy. Like a newborn baby, that's the sort of noise it is. Maybe even a call for help, for somebody to come and end its hurting. It's the only cry that a rabbit makes its whole life long, just that one deathcry and it's all over. (7.10-11)
What's happening here? Yep, Rob is comparing a dying rabbit's cry to the cry of a newborn baby. Hmmm… you think our friendly author is trying to tell us something here?
Quote #5
The grass whipped on my legs as I ran after him, fast as I could. So I could see where on that ridge his nest was that I knew he'd circle back to. Pinky didn't want to miss a trick, so she was right at my heels. But I lost sight of the hawk. He just plain melted over a hilltop and out of sight. I sure would of wanted to see his nest. And to see him tear up that fresh rabbit and feed his little ones. I bet soon as he landed at his nest with his kill, all his brood had their beaks open, wanting to get some hunks of warm rabbit down their gullet. (7.14)
Just in case you haven't been paying attention, Peck hits you over the head with it again: life, especially new life, depends inevitably on death. Or in other words, killing the fluffy bunny = steely-eyed hawks with long-term prospects.
Quote #6
Then we went outside and sat on a bench on the westerly side of the barn, me still holding the kitten on my lap, and we watched the sun go down. The pink became purple, and the purple turned to what Mama called a Shaker gray.
"Papa," I said, "of all the things in the world to see, I reckon the heavens at sundown has got to be my favorite sight. How about you?"
"The sky's a good place to look," he said. "And I got a notion it's a good place to go." (7.28-30)
Rob doesn't know it yet (and neither do we, of course), but in retrospect, it seems that maybe Papa already knows he's not long for this world. What parts of this passage show us that he's already thinking about the approach of his own death?