How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
When Denny was away and Eve fed me and she leaned down to give me my bowl of food and my nose was near her head, I had detected a bad odor, like rotting wood, mushrooms, decay. Wet, soggy, decay. It came from her ears and her sinuses. There was something inside Eve's head that didn't belong. (7.24)
This is some clear-cut foreshadowing, right? Usually, "decay" isn't a word that comes up naturally when describing someone's odor. Unless this smell is just a new perfume Eve bought that Enzo really hates? Yeah, probably not.
Quote #2
But, as with all things, there were repercussions: since that time, my nightmares have always contained angry crows. A murder of them. (13.15-16)
As an omen, the fact that Enzo brings up crows right after talking about Eve's worsening conditioning also seems like some pretty obvious foreshadowing to us. We also wonder whether it's a coincidence that angry crows and ravens, omens of death, are specifically mentioned in Chapter 13? Not that we're superstitious, or anything.
Quote #3
[Zoë] unfolded a dishcloth that she'd brought from the house. In the dishcloth were scissors, a Sharpie pen, and masking tape. She pulled off the doll's head. She took the kitchen scissors and cut off Barbie's hair, down to the plastic nub. She then drew a line on the doll's skull, all the while whispering softy, "Everything's going to be okay."
When she was done, she tore off a piece of masking tape and put in on the doll's head. She pressed the head back onto the neck stub and laid the doll down. We both stared at it. A moment of silence.
"Now she can go to heaven," Zoë said to me. "And I'll live with Grandma and Grandpa." (21.5-7)
As far as grappling with the illness of a parent goes, maybe this isn't the healthiest way to do it. But it does allow us a peek into Zoë's mindset and see how her grandparents seem to be teaching her to start accepting and even coping with her mother's death.
Quote #4
"Until what?" Denny demanded. I could hear the irritation in his voice. "How do you know what's going to happen? You're condemning her to something before you even know."
[…]
"Please, Denny. We have to face the reality of it. The doctor said six to eight months. He was quite definite." (23.38-40)
This interaction shows Trish and Maxwell's opinion of Eve's diagnosis, as opposed to Denny's. Denny, who doesn't give up for anything, isn't willing to sell Eve out to her diagnosis, while Maxwell and Trish are preparing for the reality of it.
Quote #5
"Today is the first day I am not dead," Eve said, "And we're having a party." (27.12)
It's important that Eve says that she "is not dead," not that "she doesn't feel dead." It could mean that she has felt dead up until this point, and now that she knows she will die, she isn't dead, because death isn't the end. That seems ironic—and really sad.
Quote #6
"Don't you see?" [Eve] asked. "I'm not afraid of it anymore. I wanted you with me before because I wanted you to protect me, but I'm not afraid of it anymore. Because it's not the end." (27.22)
This is Eve coming to terms with the final stages of her illness. She's accepting her death and looking ahead to it with a clear conscience and a brave face. Enzo remembers this and thinks Eve's incredibly brave for being able to go through it this way.
Quote #7
I was on that squirrel and it had no chance. I was ruthless. My jaws slapped down on it, cracking its back, my teeth ripped into its fur and I shook it to death after that, for good measure, I shook it until I heard its neck snap in two. (28.10)
Obligatory yuck aside, this is a scene of death that's meant to alleviate the pain of another death. Enzo doesn't know how to react to the news of Eve's death, so he does the first thing that comes to mind, which is apparently to kill and eat a squirrel.
Quote #8
When they were all gone, we walked down the hill and we stood before the mound of dirt and we cried. We kneeled and we cried and we grabbed handfuls of the dirt, the mound, and we felt the last bit of her, the last part of her that we could feel, and we cried. (36.63)
This is a cathartic moment for Denny and Enzo, because up until this moment, they've been so caught up in the custody battle and the rape charges and the entanglement with lawyers that Eve's death has faded to the background. Here, they get to cry out with their pain, their frustration, and their loss.
Quote #9
I thought of Eve and how quickly she embraced her death once the people around her agreed to it; I considered the foretelling of my own end, which was to be full of suffering and pain, as death is believed to be by most of the world, and I tried to look away. (37.16)
The parallels Enzo draws between his own impending death and Eve's death brings together ideas about death and control. After receiving his diagnosis, Enzo wonders if he's strong enough to choose a different path for himself, to take control despite this news. Since he can't drive, taking a different path might be a problem. It's not like they're going to give a dog a driver's license, right?
Quote #10
I don't want Denny to worry about me. I don't want to force him to take me on a one-way visit to the vet. He loves me so much. The worst thing I could possibly do to Denny is make him hurt me. (58.11)
Enzo is proving his own selflessness here by indicating his desire to make his own death as easy as possible for Denny, since he's already been through so much.