How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I saw color-patches for weeks […] it was summer; the peaches were ripe in the valley orchards. When I woke in the morning, color-patches wrapped around my eyes, intricately, leaving not one unfilled spot. (2.29)
Dillard learns about seeing from reading about those who can't. Blind people who were given sight were unable to conceptualize the world in anything other than fields of color; learning about their perception changes her own.
Quote #2
After half an hour, the last of the stragglers had vanished into the trees. I stood with difficulty, bashed by the unexpectedness of this beauty, and my spread lungs roared. (3.15)
Dillard is amazed by the flight of the starlings the state has spent so much time and money trying to exterminate. In the nuisance, she sees the beauty.
Quote #3
There are seven or eight categories of phenomena in the world that are worth talking about, and one of them is the weather. (3.35)
The weather is the great icebreaker, as it were. We use it as an introduction, we use it to fill space, we use it as a conversation we can have when we feel uncomfortable. Taking about the weather serves a social purpose.