How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I screamed then, an unending peal of torment. The pain was excruciating. The pain felt glorious. I could feel every nerve in my hand, every cut in my back, every sensation magnified until the line between good and bad blurred into something so awesome, so awful, that I had to open my mouth and let it out […] My gift was tearing me apart. (29.16, 18)
Necromancy may be what Sam was born to do, but that doesn't mean it's all fun and games—when he kills Douglas, he literally becomes fused with the pain of all the creatures and people his nemesis has tortured and killed in the dungeon. Having such close identification with the dead has to be one of the downsides of entering the trade.
Quote #8
"Since you've leapt from Plumpy's Employee of the Month to fancy necromancer—" Ashley said.
"Hey!" I pointed an indignant finger at her. "I was never employee of the month." (30.108-109)
Talk about a wakeup call about how lame your life was before becoming an official necromancer. Sam can't lay claim to a thing in his previous existence. Not even employee of the month at a fast food joint.
Quote #9
"You don't have anything to be sorry about. Yeah, I'm sort of dead, Ramon is sick, and you got the s*** beat out of your. You also met a girl, got strange mutant powers, and kicked some ass." (31.20)
And that, dear Shmoopers, is what we call a character arc. Sam's identity fundamentally morphs throughout his character's journey, taking him from loser fast food worker to seducer of werewolves and slayer of evil necromancers. Not bad.