How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
What would happen when the last bit of warmth seeped from his body? What was death like? Did it hurt? Did it come fast like lightning from the sky or a blow from the Spirit Bear? Did death sneak around like a stinking seagull, trying to snatch life from a body like meat chunks from a rotting carcass? Or did life just flicker out like a dim candle? (8.27)
Now Cole is really scared about his fate and wonders what it feels like to die. He's simply not ready to die yet, even though he's in a whole world of pain. He's going to fight through it.
Quote #5
Cole understood this cycle. Beside him a tree had died. Already, ants and bugs crawled among the cracked bark and splintered wood. For them life went on. In a few weeks they would make new homes from the wood. With time, the tree would rot and become dirt. Then a new seed would fall and grow, and another tree would push upward. (10.14)
As Cole looks around, he sees that life and death form a natural cycle—and that he's a part of this cycle, too. He can't escape dying no matter how aggressive he gets or how much he fights everyone and everything that gets in his way.
Quote #6
In that moment, Cole realized how badly he wanted to live. The food he had thrown up was still food. Those fish bits still contained energy, and energy was life. No thieving seagull was going to steal life from him. He jerked his arm at the gulls. "Mine," he grunted. "That's mine." (11.8)
It's pretty gross to eat food that he's already thrown up, but Cole doesn't really have a choice. If he wants to survive, he's going to have to do some unpleasant things, including consuming some seriously gross meals.