Explain the significance of the following quotations. How do they highlight a key theme or idea from the book as a whole? Where does the quote come from - in other words, what is the context?
"In a way I wanted to stop myself. It was cruel, I knew that, but right and wrong were somewhere else. This was the spirit world."
"But you can't say that. All you can do is tell it one more time, patiently, adding and subtracting, making up a few things to get at the real truth. No Mitchell Sanders, you tell her. No Lemon, no Rat Kiley. No trail junction. No baby buffalo. No vines or moss or white blossoms. Beginning to end, you tell her, it's all made up. Every goddamn detail--the mountains and the river and especially that poor dumb baby buffalo. None of it happened. None of it."
"Because late that same night he borrowed a pistol, gripped it by the barrel, and used it like a hammer to break his own nose."
"Then he burned the two photographs...He realized it was only a gesture. Stupid, he thought. Sentimental, too, but mostly just stupid. Lavender was dead. You couldn't burn the blame."
Symbolism: Characters as symbols.
Consider how the men in the Alpha company function as symbols. How does Azar function as a symbol in the book? What sort of man does he represent? Think specifically about the situation with Bobby Jorgensen at the end of the book to help you.
What does Linda symbolize?
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