How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
A pair of especially large bears [my grandfather] had shot stood upright with redoubtably raised front paws in the iron-barred vestibule of our country house. Every summer I gauged my height by the ability to reach their fascinating claws—first those of the lower forelimbs, then those of the upper. (3.3.3)
A lot of children have a special doorway or piece of wall in the family home, filled with lines marking their height and accompanying dates as they grow. Vladimir has two big hunting trophies with which to compare his height. Totally relatable.
Quote #5
In his youth [Uncle Ruka] had been intensely disliked by his father, a country gentleman of the old school (bear hunting, a private theatre, a few fine Old Masters among a good deal of trash), whose uncontrollable temper was rumored to have been a threat to the boy's very life. (3.4.5)
Those taxidermied bears Vladimir used to measure his height? It seems they're also the talismans of an angry father (Vladimir's grandfather). It's important to note, even though Vladimir got along pretty swimmingly with his parents, not all of the family members were able to play nice...and this might have had quite the bearing on the kind of man Uncle Ruka would become.
Quote #6
I next see my mother leading me bedward through the enormous hall, where a central flight of stairs swept up and up, with nothing but hothouse-like panes of glass between the upper landing and the light green evening sky. (4.3.1)
Here Nabokov is remembering a childhood ritual: his mother taking him up to bed, his resistance and games to avoid the much-hated sleep. Sleep will take him away from his mother and everyone he loves. The stairs function a little like the path to Heaven in this image, because Nabokov is a boss author like that.