How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Without stopping to think—for if I had, I might not have risked both our lives—I brushed past Morgan and went to my knees before them, the tormented Malachi and the prostrate Warthrop, and the boy turned his tear-stained face, contorted with anger and bewilderment, toward mine beseechingly, as if in my eyes he might find the answer to that unspeakable, unanswerable question: Why?
"He took everything from me, Will!" he whispered.
"And you would take everything from me," I answered.
I reached for the hand that held the gun. He flinched. His finger tightened on the trigger. I froze. "He is all I have," I said, for it was true. With one hand I grasped his shaking wrist; with the other I eased the firearm from his quivering fingers. (9.48-51)
Will Henry's quick thinking isn't the only thing that saves the day; it's his compassionate response to the sticky situation. If he had approached Malachi with anger or aggression this story probably wouldn't end so well, but by appealing to Malachi's empathy he manages to diffuse the situation.
Quote #5
I attempted to excuse myself. My avowal had reminded me of my place by the doctor's side. Malachi reacted as if I had threatened to throttle him. He grabbed my wrist and begged me not to go, and in the end I could not refuse him. My failure was not entirely owing to a congenital curse (it seemed my lot in life to sit at the bedsides of troubled people); it resulted too from the painful memory of another bereft boy who lay comfortless in a strange bed night after night, consigned to a little alcove, set aside and forgotten for hours, like an unwanted heirloom bequeathed by a distant relation, too vulgar to display but too valuable to discard. There were times, in the beginning of my service to the monstrumologist, when I was certain he must have heard my keening wails long into the night—heard them, and did nothing. (9.87)
That is some seriously sad stuff right there. Malachi is lucky to have found Will Henry, who knows exactly what he is going through right when he needs someone to be there for him. Will Henry, on the other hand, has been all alone. If only Dr. Warthrop had an ounce of compassion in him.
Quote #6
Malachi slowly shook his head, his eyes ablaze. "He is your master and rescued you from the bleak life of the orphanage," he whispered. "I understand, Will. You feel bound to excuse and forgive him, but I cannot excuse and I will not forgive this… this… What did you say he was?"
"A monstrumologist."
"Yes, that's right. A monster hunter… Well, he is what he hunts." (9.94-96)
Malachi feels like he needs someone to blame for the slaughter of his family, and Dr. Warthrop is the obvious choice. He would have been equally justified in blaming Will Henry, though, as he was complicit in the silence that led up to their deaths. However, their shared experience and the fact that Will Henry is obviously just a boy gives Will Henry a pass.