How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Tom was laughing helplessly at the closeness of their escape and at the sheer surprise of finding himself still alive, and Hester laughed with him. (15.62)
Tom and Hester may have just performed a courageous feat by jumping onto a moving city, but it's important to remember that they're not action heroes. They're still kids, and the relief at surviving makes them giddy with laughter.
Quote #5
"NO! [...] You know her, and she asked you for help, and you ought to help her! You're just a coward, eating up little towns that can't escape, and murdering people, and holding people in the slave-pit because you're too scared of your own men to help them!" (17.31)
A repeating idea in this book is that the kids—Tom, Hester, Katherine, and Bevis—are courageous. The adults aren't. And the adults are the ones who are running the world. Are they living in what amounts to a cowardly world?