The Returning Warfare Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Cam had lifted a shoulder. That he would not want to talk about it… Ban thought he could understand: To talk about it was to think about it, when all Cam wanted, it seemed, was to forget. (4.28)

That's irony for you. Everyone wants Cam to remember all the gory details, while he just wants to make it the furthest thing from his mind. Except war keeps taking over his memories and life—so he can't escape, no matter what he does.

Quote #5

He could see Cam, running, not slowing even to shove the branches aside, as if Fenister's farmhand had become an Uplander soldier, as if the war was still being fought. (4.56)

Ban realizes that you can take Cam out of a war, but you can't take the war out of Cam. Now that he's fought, it's part of him whether he likes it or not.

Quote #6

His sword did swing and the blood, it did just… jump from my arm and hit him, face and chest and hands, and he… he staggered back and fell over a body, so he was kneeling there, righting himself, using his sword as a prop, and I was looking at him, and his eyes met mine and it wasn't. (4.103)

There are so few descriptions of the fighting in the novel that we had to highlight this one from Cam. We'd like to point out how he doesn't play the blame game here, making his enemy seem larger or more vicious than he actually is. For the most part, he seems to give us a pretty straightforward account.