How we cite our quotes: The book doesn't have numbered or titled chapters, but it is broken up into sections with sub-sections under these. We'll call this Chapter:Section:Paragraph.
Quote #7
The thought had lived in him with claws, or like a thirst he could never spit out, a repulsive need to get out of his system all that had happened—for whatever had happened had happened wrong; to clean it out of his self and bring in a little peace, a little order; to change the beginning, beginning with the past that stupendously stank up the now—to change his life before the smell of it suffocated him. (4.5.5)
If Frank Alpine were a vampire, he'd be Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, eternally seeking redemption, and never ever sparkly.
Quote #8
Morris then thought, yes, the clerk could have been stealing, but, if so it was more his fault than Frank's. (5.5.24)
The Bober family members have a tendency to blame themselves for other people's failures. Morris is the most extreme. He blames himself first and foremost, as if he were more blameworthy than the actual wrongdoer.
Quote #9
Ida, holding a wet handkerchief to her eyes, thought, … A person doesn't always want to worry if she will be in the street tomorrow. She wants sometime's a minute's peace. But maybe it's my fault, because I didn't let him be a druggist. (9.5.14)
Ida doesn't all out blame herself for the family's bad times, but she wonders whether she shares some of that blame, namely for not letting Morris pursue pharmacy those many years ago. You live and you learn.