How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"I don't feel what God is," answered Ishmael. "I don't feel anything either way. No feeling about it comes to me—it's not something I have a choice about. Isn't a feeling like that supposed to happen? Isn't it just supposed to happen?" (24.20)
With all of the novel's meditations on faith and destiny, it's no surprise that it gets into some discussion of faith and God. Ishmael seems to believe that you either have faith or not, and that it's kind of preordained whether you're going to have that sentiment.
Quote #8
The tide drift had taken him down into the kelp, and he'd wasted four hours extracting himself so as not to rip his gill-net. Now, tonight, he would have to do better. He would need to have fortune on his side. (27.28)
The narrator is taking us inside Kabuo's thoughts when he heads out fishing the night of Carl's death. Apparently Kabuo is fairly superstitious, believing that he is at the mercy of luck and fortune in his pursuit of a good fishing night.
Quote #9
"Ladies and gentlemen," Nels pressed on, "perhaps there is such a thing as fate. Perhaps for inscrutable reasons God has looked down and allowed the accused man to come to this path, where his very life lies in your hands. An accident of some kind befell Carl Heine at a moment that could not be less propitious or less fortunate for the accused. And yet it happened." (29.11)
Nels suggests that, whether it's pure chance or a God-led vendetta, Kabuo has had forces beyond his control working against him. Of course, in a nice point of comparison and contrast, Kabuo's fate now in the jury's hands—not chance's, or God's—and Nels is encouraging them to make good use of that power.