How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
We reached the first portage at eleven. My feet moved over the rocks and mud, stepping in my own day-old footprints, backtracking; in my brain the filaments, trails reconnected and branched, we killed other people besides Hitler, before my brother went to school and learned about him and the games became war games. Earlier we would play we were animals; our parents were the humans, the enemies who might shoot or catch us, we would hide from them. (18.36)
The narrator returns here to memories of her childhood with her brother, who definitely emerges as a potentially sinister figure. The notion of the two siblings playing war together and treating their parents as enemies makes the "play" aspect of this game seem a little, er, less playful.
Quote #8
"Shut up, she's my wife," David said. His hand clamped down above her elbow. She jerked away, then I saw his arms go around her as if to kiss her and she was in the air, upside down over his shoulder, hair hanging in damp ropes. (16.20)
David's (lack of) charm is in full force here as he's trying to bully his wife into stripping down for the camera. When she won't consent to it, he picks her up and threatens to throw her in the lake if she continues to hold out. Dear narrator, definitely go elsewhere for any and all future marriage advice.
Quote #9
When he saw her next there would be no recantations, no elaborate reconciliation or forgiveness, they were beyond that. Neither of them would mention it, they had reached a balance almost like peace. Our mother and father at the sawhorse behind the cabin, mother holding the tree, white birch, father sawing, sun through the branches lighting their hair, grace. (16.43)
After the incident between David and Anna over the latter's unwillingness to take off her clothes for the camera, the narrator reflects that the storm will pass easily, and nobody will remain mad about it. For some reason, her thoughts here dissolve into an image of her parents standing together. Are we supposed to believe that the "grace" of this image of them together is somehow akin to David and Anna's marriage? We're not so sure about that, but it's an odd juxtaposition for sure.