How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I do not want to talk about what I saw. But if you're to understand the rest, here's what you need to know: There wasn't a lot of body left (the sheriff said that it'd been exposed to animals). There wasn't a face. There wasn't a left or right hand. The body was wrapped in fabric from Agatha's blue-green ball gown. There was a clump of auburn hair. I started to shake. I still have nightmares (that body was in an advanced state of decomposition). (1.10)
We start off with a body that has been torn up in a lot of ways: shot in the face, exposed to the elements, scavenged by animals. We have violence from humans and nature here, which will go on to be a theme throughout the book, so keep your eyes peeled.
Quote #2
She touched the Springfield. "You always end up killing something. I don't know how you can be so sure about putting creatures to death." (6.11)
Georgie has never had a close encounter with human death until Sheriff McCabe brings that body in. However, she's happy to shoot animals for no reason other than to practice her skill with the Springfield, so she deals out violence all the time. Does the book make a statement about the relative morality of killing animals for sport? Does it have this effect on you as a reader?
Quote #3
My feet slipped and gave way. I rolled ten feet, ripping my sleeve, bruising every part of my body, and banging my cheek hard. I felt my cheek swell—heat rising in it. (No wonder my face later looked like a topographic map.) (12.26)
In her fit of grief over Agatha's death, Georgie manages to bang herself up something fierce. Now she looks as pained as she feels, having experienced a kind of emotional violence through being forced to confront the idea of losing her sister.
Quote #4
After four or five feet of river had ambled by, Billy reached out and touched my cheekbone. "None of my brothers ever managed one that good. Does it hurt?"
"Now that you mention it," I said. I had noticed the heat gathering around my cheekbone. My left eye had difficulty opening. (13.10-11)
Wow, of course it hurts, Billy, and it's probably infected. Talk about silly questions. How do these injuries—and the resulting, if temporary, change in Georgie's appearance—change her character for the rest of the novel?
Quote #5
"Now, I know my Darlene has plenty of followers, but it does beat all when someone comes in here and asks after my daughter accompanied by a young girl so obviously struck in the face."
"I fell," I said quickly. (14.40)
This is an interesting switch on the stereotype of domestic violence victims who say they fell when they were in fact beaten. Georgie is telling the truth, but no one believes her. This is particularly interesting considered along with Mrs. Garrow's presumption that Georgie and Bill are a couple—for the Garrows, violence and love may be closely related.
Quote #6
I did not care for that murderous term (though it fit the act). The war with the South had tainted all sharpshooters as those too yellow-bellied to fight man-to-man. But this wasn't a man-to-man fight; this was man-to-girl, and even with the advantage of the repeating rifle, I'd never shot at something that shot back. (17.33)
This is Georgie's first high-stakes violent encounter. Up until now, she's been shooting at small animals and falling on rocks. This time, she really might die. Still, she doesn't have many options in this situation.
Quote #7
I watched as a man I'd never seen, a thin man topped with a bowler hat, jerked Billy so he sat closer to the pine, pulled his arms around the tree trunk, and lashed his wrists together. Then Bowler Hat bound up Billy's legs. The man's bony shoulder blades worked back and forth. When the man finished, Billy looked trussed up like a turkey ready for roasting. Billy hurt too. I couldn't see any blood—at least not at this distance—but I saw him wince with every breath. (17.42)
Here, we see the results of what Bowler Hat and Mr. Garrow have already done to Billy, so we know they mean business. If Georgie doesn't fight back, they well might kill her and Billy. What choices does Georgie have about how she engages in violence at this point?
Quote #8
I'd known as I took aim that I'd finish the Springfield. I did. The Springfield—my Springfield—flew from Bowler Hat's hands, the butt end splintering. Sparks scattered as parts of it landed in the fire and began to burn.
Bowler Hat grabbed at his right hand and hit the ground on his knees, genuflecting up and down, his hands clenched as if in prayer—profane prayer, because he swore up and down the alphabet. "My thumb! My thumb's gone!" (17.106-107)
Georgie decides to shoot her own gun—now wielded by Bowler Hat—instead of killing the man. She does, however, get his thumb. Not that this is really funny, but if there's any comic relief in this scene, it's Bowler Hat's freak out about his thumb. We have to say, as he was seriously going to murder two people, he's getting off easy by losing only a thumb.
Quote #9
She kept up a near constant monologue as she worked over my body with a brush: "My land, these bruises! There's society and savagery, and you sure crossed that line. We've got to bring you back." (19.12)
Mrs. Tartt is referring mainly to Georgie's appearance here, but can we read more into it? Has Georgie crossed a line between society and savagery? Does her encounter with the counterfeiters, and her journey as a whole, have any lasting effect on her ability to fit in with society?
Quote #10
What was Mr. Olmstead talking about? How did he know about the counterfeiters? And what did he mean by "the men that did this to you"? Then part of it dawned on me: "Are you talking about my face?"
"Someone hit you."
I sighed. "Everyone seems to deduce that I got hit, but I fell. I fell off a big pile of rocks, landed on my cheek, and earned this bruise fair and square. Mr. Garrow and his men are innocent of hurting me. I hurt them. The man traveling with Mr. Garrow? Well, I accidentally shot off his thumb." I realized how that sounded, and added: "In defense! He was going to hurt Billy."
Mr. Olmstead's eyes went wide. "You shot off his thumb?" (19.35-38)
Poor Georgie—she keeps trying to tell people she fell, but everyone assumes she took a good smack across the face. In this passage, she fairly well sums up the various kinds of violence she's dealt with on her quest: taking it and dealing it out.