How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Page)
Quote #1
"Look, they climb, and no one knows them;/they take their copper pittances, and your duty/from the time you watched them from your grandmother's house/as a child wounded by their power and beauty/is the chance you now have, to give those feet a voice." (XIII.iii.75-76)
The narrator's father reminds him to seek his poetic subjects in the beauty of his people's struggle through time. The image of these determined women clearly pulls at his heart and compels him to capture their lives in verse.
Quote #2
How many young Redcoats had died/for her? How many leaves had caught yellow fever/from that lemon dress? (XVII.ii.93)
Major Plunkett mixes his metaphors when speaking about the purpose of war in the Caribbean. The young colonialists who fell on the island may not have died out of love for the place or for the monarchy, but it's clear that Plunkett has Helen (the woman) on his mind as well. Had they also fallen for a lovely, local face?
Quote #3
Why couldn't they love the place, same way, together,/the way he always loved her, even with his sore?/Love Helen like a wife in good and bad weather,/in sickness and health, its beauty being poor?/The way the leaves loved her, not like a pink leaflet/printed with slogans of black people fighting war? (XX.ii.108)
Anyone living in a country with mudslinging political campaigns can identify with Philoctete's sentiments here. But for characters like Philoctete, Achille, and Seven Seas, their lives and loyalties are tied to the natural beauty of the land—quite separate from the political and commercial concerns consuming the island.