How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake—not a very big one. (1.1)
This is the opening line to the novel, so of course it's significant. It demonstrates Gus's attitude toward nature: he decides to let it take its course. He doesn't have any interest in imposing his own will on it.
Quote #2
They were people of the horse, not of the town; in that they were more like the Comanches than Call would ever have admitted. (7.94)
The cowboys of the Hat Creek Cattle Company are nomadic, more at home in nature than in buildings. It takes a special kind of man to go on a rough journey like this across the country.
Quote #3
Men who didn't know how to get on and off a horse would not be much use around a cow outfit. (12.119)
Most of the success in a cattle company involves taming animals, and not just cattle. A man has to form a solid relationship with his horse in order to be effective at subduing a few hundred heads of cattle.