How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Oh, my heavens. How'd you get ahold of that piece of antiquity?" (3.37)
Hattie Mae thinks it's funny that Abilene has an old column of hers, but that is one powerful piece of paper. After all, Gideon was the one who wrapped the old newspaper around the compass to keep it safe, and what is this whole story if not a search for her Gideon's past?
Quote #2
What kind of purveyor of the future could only tell stories from the past? (10.5)
Abilene isn't quite convinced about Miss Sadie's magical abilities. And how about this: do the citizens of Manifest shun Miss Sadie because she's a fortune-teller or because she holds memories that the town would rather forget?
Quote #3
"It is time to reveal secrets of future and past." (9.42)
Miss Sadie seems to know that the story she's about to tell Abilene will change the future of their town. Does revealing a secret from the past really affect the future? How does it affect Abilene? And how does it affect Manifest?
Quote #4
Memories were like sunshine. They warmed you up and left a pleasant glow, but you couldn't hold them. (11.6)
Abilene can't remember whether or not her dad had said he'd come back for her. Why is it so hard for her to grasp onto this memory? Does she have trouble with other memories, too?
Quote #5
As much as I had a need to hear her story, she had a need to tell it. It was as if the story was the only balm that provided any comfort. (18.29)
Abilene realizes that Miss Sadie's story is helping them both. The worsening infection on Miss Sadie's leg affects her story-telling, but the story seems to make the pain better.
Quote #6
"If a person lived and breathed in a place, shouldn't he have left some kind of mark?" (20.12)
Abilene can't understand why there doesn't seem to be any trace of her dad anywhere in Manifest. The only actual, literal mark that Gideon left there was his name, written on the checkout card in Moby-Dick. Has Gideon successfully escaped his past? If so, what will happen when he has to face it again?
Quote #7
Those in the room who had remained unnamed looked into their own pasts—their own stories of coming to America. (22.63)
At Shady's town meeting, Miss Sadie reminds the immigrants of their histories. What does it take to get people from such different backgrounds—but who share such similar pasts—to come together as a community? How is it that individual memories help bring people together in Manifest?
Quote #8
That was when I knew I needed a break from looking at the past. (23.1)
Abilene knows when to take a mental health break from all the memories. Miss Sadie, on the other hand, can never stop thinking about it, and that affects how she relates to other people in town.
Quote #9
After all this time of working at her house, there was a comfort in knowing that I was connected to her stories. (23.6)
Abilene loves having the little mementos mentioned in Miss Sadie's stories. Hearing someone else's memories about something you weren't involved in can still affect you—and concrete reminders make them seem even more alive.
Quote #10
It was as if these memories were contained in a painful wound that had been nursed and ignored in equal measure. (27.32)
Check out our "Symbols" section for even more, but Miss Sadie's leg wound symbolizes the pain her memories are causing her. How do you think Abilene's leg infection is connected to all this?