How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
It should be all right for him to go. [...] But if the electrical supply failed, or the radioactivity spread south more quickly than the wise men estimated… (1.63)
Although everyone is pretty sure that the end will come in September, there's a small chance that it could happen earlier than expected. That's a scary thought. It's even scarier when you realize that Peter Holmes could still be at sea aboard Scorpion when it all goes down, leaving his family to fend for themselves.
Quote #2
"I believe it is that nobody really thinks it's going to happen, not to them, until they start to feel ill. And by that time, well, it's less effort to stay at home and take it." (4.268)
This is a quote from Moira's dad, Mr. Davidson, by the way. He makes a good point: in fact, everyone pretty much carries on like it's business as usual until reality becomes impossible to deny. But who can blame them? After all, it's not every day that you have to face the prospect of nuclear annihilation.
Quote #3
"I kind of like the thought that I'll be fit and well up till the end of August and then—home. I'd rather have it that way than go on as a sick man from when I'm seventy to when I'm ninety." (4.273)
Once again, Mr. Davidson drops some serious knowledge on the much younger (and much less mature) main characters. Because he's already had a full life to live, he's less worried by the thought of death—after all, the Grim Reaper would have been coming for him soon enough, anyway. That's a far cry from Moira, Peter, Dwight, and the rest of the gang.