How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The Old woman's gesture of liberation is well intended but it is completely meaningless and totally unrealized. The old woman is arrested and an examining police doctor discovers that she has cancer; she is a terminal case. (7.106)
Mortality plays a huge role in Garp's fiction from day one. This passage illustrates Garp's absurd, even existential, perspective on mortality.
Quote #5
It had been an unpleasant sensation for Garp, shortly after Duncan turned six, to smell that Duncan's breath was stale and faintly foul in his sleep [...] This was Garp's first awareness of the mortality of his son. (10.169)
Garp's fear of death gets amped up when he has kids. Now he doesn't just have to worry about himself—he has to worry about the three people he cares for.
Quote #6
The news of Cushie dead was nearly crippling to Garp. Cushman Percy had been so active—there had been such a hot juiciness about her—it seemed impossible. (12.2)
It's the contrast between Cushie's vivacious youth and her untimely death that so affects Garp. How could a star that bright go dim?