How we cite our quotes: (Name of Play, Act #)
Quote #7
CHRISTINE: Go on! Try and convince Orin of my wickedness! He loves me! He hated his father! He's glad he's dead! Even if he knew I had killed him, he'd protect me! For God's sake, keep Orin out of this! He's still sick! He's changed! He's grown hard and cruel! All he thinks about is death! Don't tell him about Adam! He would kill him! I couldn't live then! I would kill myself! (The Hunted, Act 2)
Notice anything about this passage? No, not all the exclamation points. It's a death sandwich: psychological death and suicide in between two slices of murder. If you ever forget what genre you're reading, this outburst by Christine will jog your memory.
Quote #8
ORIN: Do you still sing, Hazel? I used to hear you singing—down there. It made me feel life might still be alive somewhere—that, and my dreams of Mother, and the memory of Vinnie bossing me around like a drill sergeant. I used to hear you singing at the queerest times—so sweet and clear and pure! It would rise above the screams of the dying—
Even when he tries to recall pleasant memories, Orin just can't shake the horrors of war and memories of death.
Quote #9
ORIN: One of the bravest things he'd seen! Oh, that's too rich! I'll tell you the joke about that heroic deed. It really began the night before when I sneaked through their lines. I was always volunteering for extra danger. I was so scared anyone would guess I was afraid! There was a thick mist and it was so still you could hear the fog seeping into the ground. I met a Reb crawling toward our lines. His face drifted out of the mist toward mine. I shortened my sword and let him have the point under the ear. He stared at me with an idiotic look as if he'd sat on a tack—and his eyes dimmed and went out—
LAVINIA: Don't think of that now.
ORIN: Before I'd gotten back I had to kill another in the same way. It was like murdering the same man twice. I had a queer feeling that war meant murdering the same man over and over, and that in the end I would discover the man was myself! (The Hunted, Act 3)
One thing we hear over and over from the returned soldiers is that the romantic idea about the glory of war is just BS. It's just death and horror.