The Returning Abandonment Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Da and Cam fought, and it was a thing too big for tears. Pin heard Cam stamp outside, slamming the door against the jamb, and listened to his steps crossing the yard: hard, angry. After a pause the jingle of the harness sounded, and the clop of the gray's hooves, fading. (6.1)

The fading hoof beats punctuate the empty feeling Pin feels once Cam is gone. At first, she's mad at him, then at herself, until eventually she figures out how to forgive him. The truth is that it's sad when your family leaves you, and Pin knows this first hand.

Quote #5

He did not say, waste time. Roaming the unkempt parts of the forest with no other purpose than to out walk your own thinking, that is surely a waste of time. He did not say, run rather than come face-to-face with any of the villagers, people you've known all your life, no wondering they think you soft in the mind. He did not say, don't fit. But Ban knew all this without hearing it. Thought about it, as he wandered aimless about the fringes of the village. (9.5)

Ban's dad chides him about Cam's influence on him, and we get that this isn't as much about Cam as it is about the fact that Ban has abandoned his duties now. He doesn't care if his family needs him or if he's got work to do—he'd rather hang out with Cam.

Quote #6

"I am not a ghost." Cam laughed. "Though I sometimes feel like one." (10.127)

It's easy to see why Cam feels like a ghost—he's been abandoned by everyone around him, and no one is in his corner, defending him anymore.