How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The gentlemen had gotten on to talking about Mr. Clayborne's official business, which was to drain the water from the swamp. This was going to improve life in the Swampsea, at least according to Queen Anne. (3.46)
Okay, so the Queen says this is going to be a good thing, but won't this also force those who are accustomed to their way of life in Swampsea to make big, uncomfortable changes?
Quote #2
"Are those paper clips?" I'd seen them in catalogs, but the pictures don't do them justice. They're beautiful, in an industrial sort of way. (3.52)
Paperclips are so new that they can be thought of as beautiful, though Briony also quickly modifies her assessment but noting their beauty is sort of "industrial."
Quote #3
The London I'd never see, strung with electric wires and brilliant with switch-on lamps. I've always wondered whether they string lamps into the lavatories, or do even Londoners think they are certain things best left in the dark? (3.80)
Briony's fascination with electric wires and switch-on lamps highlights how technology can drastically change a way of life for people—and to answer her question, yes, the lights go into the bathroom.
Quote #4
He wouldn't have seen any of the Old Ones: So many had died in the great cities [...] it was the machines and metal making them sick, killing them. (6.76)
Sad to know that as the world continues to develop, the old ways of magic will slowly die away. Is modernization really a good thing here?
Quote #5
The Boggy Mun had ruled the swamp since before our human time began. [...] He could be kind, he could be savage. He could kill with the swamp cough, and why not, when his water was stolen away? (7.38)
It can be hard to imagine a time before humans, technology, and modernization, but before all of that nature ruled. Boggy Mun and the swamp cough represent nature fighting back against human ways that threaten the very existence of the natural world. They're on team Mother Earth.
Quote #6
He says there's nothing to do when the cough gets bad, save for injections of strychnine to stimulate her heart. And morphine, of course, morphine at the end, to ease her passing. (9.87)
Instead of trying to cure her illness, the doctor has to resort to simply making her death less painful. Technology may be advancing, but nature can still win.
Quote #7
The pumping station was already being rebuilt. As soon as it was all brash and red-brickibus, Rose would fall ill. I had another plan, though. We could stow away on the London-Swanton line. (12.71)
Losing faith in her ability to stop or even slow down this next development in their town, Briony plans instead to use their modern technology to escape. Is it hopeless to fight against modern developments?
Quote #8
Each wheel was a spun-candy confection of metalwork. In front, protuberant car eyes peered from protective brass hoods. A brass eagle perched on her nose. (25.23)
The motorcar here is a direct representation of the new modern world—everyone is enamored with this new machine, and even Briony (an Old One) says she is in love with it. How quickly humans become interested in the newest thing.
Quote #9
They'll drain the swamp into a scab. The Old Ones will have nowhere to live. And if that doesn't kill them, industry will. [...] The Old Ones can't survive a world filled with metal. They can't survive the clatter and growl of machinery. (32.157)
This is a sobering take on the direction that technology and modernization will take their town. Humans develop these new technologies with the idea of making things better, but they are often sacrificing more than they truly know. Which again begs the question, is it all really worth it?
Quote #10
For days and days, we'd watch the sun rise over fields of plain brown earth, and we'd turn about and go home. But one morning, the sun would rise in fields of green mist, and we'd stay to welcome the earth. We'd tell her how glad we were she'd awakened once again. (32.49)
By describing what they used to do to greet the spring, Briony remembers the townspeople's connection with nature fondly. This ritual, along with regard for the swamp and the life it sustains in general, has gotten lost along the years.