How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I was not a beggar, but I knew as I watched the children that I would beg, that I had to beg. It was not a decision that I questioned or doubted, but a fact as real and as stark as my empty stomach. (16.4)
We hate to point it out, but begging makes Vahan a beggar. He has an idea of himself and who he's supposed to be, but it just doesn't fit with what's happening around him. He might want to believe he's the kid of a wealthy family, but he's still got to beg if he wants to eat.
Quote #8
I might have believed in those soft eyes a year ago, but now I wondered what they hid. It was terrible to know many things a human being could hide, and it explained my father's face and many of his expressions. (21.11)
Oh, Vahan, how you've changed—here we see him suspicious of everyone, even without reason. The stuff he's witnessed and experienced has made him less naive and more jaded when it comes to dealing with new people.
Quote #9
The house seemed empty for many weeks. Chores were done, meals were eaten, conversations begun and ended without anything having really been said. I tried to close my mind to Seta and be who I had been before I knew her. (30.1)
Try as he might, Vahan can't unknow Seta. He wants to get rid of the pain and loss he's experienced, but he's no longer innocent to what's happened to her.