How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
I'd like to point out that this is a sight short of what the place of someone's death should look like. People are supposed to die at home. They're supposed to have time to tell their last wishes. They're supposed to be able to pray, to repent for their sins, and to commend their soul to God. And the family? We're supposed to be able to gather round the deathbed, hear those final words, watch the dying breathe their last, and witness their countenance. So given all this, I do not think the presence of a big oak tree was asking too much. (12.4)
Sounds like anger to us. Georgie is moving right on through the stages of grief. She's upset that Agatha's body was found in a "nowhere place," without even a tree to mark the spot. Nothing happened the way it was supposed to. That's kind of the thing about death, though—it doesn't care a lick for plans or preferences. Otherwise Grandfather Bolte would never have died while Georgie's off looking for Agatha.
Quote #5
The body should be Agatha. It would be strange if the body weren't Agatha. Why wouldn't the body be Agatha?
Agatha was—very likely, for the most part, probably, almost certainly, yes, surely—dead. That was a d at the beginning and a d at the end. No forward or backward. No breath either. (12.38-39)
It looks like Georgie is finally moving toward acceptance of her sister's death. She sees now how all the evidence piles up in favor of the body being Agatha's.
Quote #6
There's no forward or backward from dead, and no breath either. My own thoughts. Earlier. About someone else—a someone else who turned out to be my sister.
And look at all that had happened as a result of Agatha's death. Wouldn't it be the same for the Garrows? If Mr. Garrow died (shot dead by me), there'd be a useful woman without a husband. There'd be no father for at least three children. Maybe Mr. Garrow was lawless. Maybe he did not deserve life. But Agatha was right: Mr. Garrow's living or dying could not be my decision. Why should my bullet be the one that punched his soul from his body and sent it barreling toward some eternal destination? (17.92-93)
Georgie has always admired and looked up to Agatha, and here she seems to finally embrace some of Agatha's ideas about the right to take life. Why does Georgie ultimately decide she cannot kill either Mr. Garrow or Bowler Hat, even though they are threatening both her and Billy's lives?