How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
(I wonder how I know all this. It must have stuck in my mind from small-town tales when I was a boy) (1.13)
We were wondering that same thing, Mr. Narrator. This is the first indication that the story we're being told isn't quite factually true.
Quote #2
The scene in the forest had become for me, without my knowing it, the foundation for the real story I am now trying to tell. (5.10)
Memory is like a time capsule from the past: sometimes the things you pack away the deepest end up being the most interesting when they're unearthed.
Quote #3
The whole thing, the story of the old woman's death, was to me as I grew older like music heard from far off. The notes had to be picked up slowly one at a time. (5.13)
Have you ever experienced anything like this in your own life? Is there any event that didn't make sense at first, but eventually clicked into place once you learned its context? For the narrator, this memory grows into a near-obsession.
Quote #4
All the Grimes dogs did it at some time during the evening [...] I knew all about it afterward [...] because once in a woods in Illinois, on another Winter night, I saw a pack of dogs act just like that (3.15)
For the first time, we realize that the narrator is using his own experiences and memories to fill in the blanks of Mrs. Grimes' story. Naturally, this raises a lot of questions, but we'll have to wait and see before making any judgments.
Quote #5
Such things happened in town of the Middle West, on farms near town, when I was a boy. (4.4)
Now we see that Mrs. Grimes' story is just one of many. The most likely scenario—to us, at least—is that "Death in the Woods" is the result of the mashing together of several of these stories. Kids, this is what mash-ups looked like before the Internet.
Quote #6
Well, we would have something to tell. A boy did not get such a chance very often (4.12)
This is a big moment in the life of a young writer. In time, this memory will bloom into something larger than he had ever imagined.
Quote #7
When I was a young man I worked on the farm of a German. The hired-girl was afraid of her employer. The farmer's wife hated her (5.11)
Wait, what? Let's get this straight: the narrator worked on a farm run by a sleazy German dude too? What about Mrs. Grimes? We're starting to think that most of this story may not even be true.
Quote #8
When I was a schoolboy [...] I went [...] to the house where the old woman had lived. No one had lived in the house since her death (5.12)
The narrator's later life experiences shape his understanding of Mrs. Grimes' death. The image of her decrepit old house (complete with creepy dogs) definitely shaped the story we're being told.
Quote #9
I did not think he got the point. He was too young and so was I. A thing so complete has its own beauty (5.16)
Some things are impossible for kids to understand. Luckily, the narrator keeps the experience stored in his memory-banks for when he is old enough to understand.
Quote #10
I am only explaining why I was dissatisfied then and have been ever since. I speak of that only that you may understand why I have been impelled to try to tell the simple story over again (5.17)
Now we see why this memory is so important to the narrator: it's his first brush with death. His half-manufactured story is an attempt to reconcile such a horrible occurrence with his understanding of the world.