How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #10
"He didn't kill Sun Moon and her children. Ga turned them into little birds and taught them a sad song. Then they flew away toward sunset, to a place where you'll never find them." (239)
Comrade Buc tells the Interrogator and his crew what actually happened to Sun Moon in barely allegorical terms, but they still fail to understand what he's on about. The idea of defection is so far out of their vocabulary that they simply don't get it. Sun Moon and her children are not the only ones to undergo significant change in this story line: Comrade Buc has lost everything that matters and is now wallowing on the floor of the "sump" in Division 42.
Quote #11
"You're one of us now," he said. "You're an intern no more. You no longer have use for a name,' he added as he pulled hard on her fingers, snapping the cracked bones straight for a proper heal." (364)
Q-Kee has paid a terrible price for her "graduation" from intern to full-fledged Pubyok: she's personally killed her colleague Jujack because he withheld information from them. The traditional breaking of the hand against the doorjamb is meant to toughen the hand itself, but it's also clearly a chance for Q-Kee to release herself from the horror of her actions. Her willingness to murder in cold blood transforms Q-Kee into a minion of the state who no longer needs a personal identity.