How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Whatever happened now, at least I was making an effort to take charge of my own life and not giving myself in to the hands of our enemy. I have never been as religious as my parents, but such times bring back the old words. (7.59)
It's not uncommon for people to get religious when they confront death or war, but Geertrui thinks about this in a unique way. She finds comfort in the practice of reciting religious words, whether she believes them or not—for her, it's more about taking charge for herself than letting her parents decide everything for her.
Quote #8
"And besides, Dad has never been happy about the way Sarah idolizes Jacob—that's what he calls it—and romanticizes—his word again—their three years of marriage. He says it's unhealthy. No relationship, he says, is ever as perfect as Sarah makes out hers was with Grandfather, no matter how much the two people are in love. I wouldn't know." (12.37)
We get why Sarah only praises Jacob—he's a war hero and it's easy to remember things more perfect than they actually were. Yet the book doesn't let us get away with thinking the same thing—Jacob's dad and Geertrui's memoir make sure of it.
Quote #9
Young Geordie and myself were warned to get ready. As we had not been in the battalion long, we were designated as bomb carriers and were given the harness with six ten-pound [4.5 kgs] mortar bombs to cart into action. We were issued with Dutch occupation money, maps, escape saws, forty rounds of .303 rifle ammo, two .36 grenades, an anti-tank grenade, a phosphorus bomb, and a pick and shovel, as well as the rifles we already had. (14.11)
Private Sims's account of war is a real-life memoir from what happened during the battle of Arnhem. It gives the book a sense of realism, like we're really witnessing the war in front of us, as it happens—it makes us think about what it was like for the soldiers who fought when they were fighting, not afterwards.