Dragonwings The Home Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Father cupped his hands about his mouth. "Give it more string," he shouted to her. "Give it more string. It smells its home." (8.37)

Windrider likens the sky as the glider model's home, raising questions of where he believes his home to be. Committed as he is to his destiny as a dragon, we understand that he is fascinated with flying machines because he too senses that his home is in the sky.

Quote #5

Lefty let out a low whistle when he saw the window. "Surely it is the very jewel of heaven," he said. We did not need to translate that. Miss Whitlaw beamed. We wrapped it carefully in newspaper and then in a second layer of blankets before we put it in the wagon in the little nest. Miss Whitlaw turned then and took the door key out of her purse. "Oh, dear, I feel so silly" […] She walked quickly back up the path to her door and locked it. Then she put the key back into her purse. It was the last time she would be able to do that. (9.179-182)

Through this moment with Miss Whitlaw, we see how soul-crushing the earthquake's damage was. The role of the earthquake in the novel functions as a further reminder of the instability of physical homes and the need to be able to create home wherever one is.

Quote #6

It was kind of scary. One day we were living in a law-abiding community and the next day the city and the community had both dissolved, with every person for himself. It struck me that Father and I had probably walked by this house, feeling as safe as we could feel in a demon street, many times, and now here we were hiding behind what was left of it, trying to keep from getting shot. (10.6)

Moon Shadow's sense of place and security is disrupted by the earthquake, suggesting that a sense of space can change too quickly for home to be dependent on spatial coordinates alone.