How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Finally he moved from the chair and realized that the shadows had crept across the room and draped it all in darkness. The cabin glowed softly in the light from the single oil lantern hanging from a stout metal hook in the center beam of the roof. (2.10)
Call it intuition, but Sig has a fear inside him about something, he's just not sure what.
Quote #2
Their home for the next seven months. At least one of the shacks was theirs. They might just make it. As for Maria, only God knew, but then with a surge of fear tightening his throat, he thought of the children. (5.22)
There are several times when Einar questions whether he's made the right choice by moving his family to Alaska. We see that he's not just thinking about this, but genuinely scared about what the consequences might be if he has made the wrong decision.
Quote #3
His features were coarse, his eyes far apart, his nose broad, his mouth hidden by a rough beard of ginger and white. His head, when he removed his fur hat, was shaven to his scalp. His skull was a disturbing shape, flat at the back, his ears too small. It was not a face stroked into creation by God's loving hand, but battered into shape by the Devil's hammer. (6.10)
We don't think Wolff will be winning any beauty contests anytime soon. He's so scary looking that even before he knows what the guy is up to, Sig's afraid when he shows up at the house.
Quote #4
Wolff filled the room like a threat, ominous, sinister and unknowable. He was covered almost entirely by his long leather greatcoat, once stark black but now a softer, mottled thing of shadows. His face still unsettled Sig, and now he realized it was the man's eyes that had this effect on him. (14.16)
These lengthy descriptions about Wolff's subtle movements and appearance give us an idea of what he's really like—with the added bonus of scaring us a bit too. Notice how Wolff's described in animalistic terms here, moving about the shadows like a snake, very secretively.
Quote #5
With a twinge of fear, Sig realized that it spoke of a complete absence of any need to follow rules. A man who will defile the sanctity of the dead will surely think nothing of breaking any of the laws of the land or the laws of God. (15.4)
What's really scary about Wolff is that he doesn't care what Sig—or anyone for that matter—tells him to do. He marches to the beat of his own drum and is happy to make his own rules, whether they hurt people or not.
Quote #6
"Do you see what I mean now? It's perfect, and if perfection is beauty, then this is the most beautiful thing in the world. A piece of man's incredible ingenuity, a machine, perfectly designed around the hand of man." (18.36)
It frightens Anna to hear her dad and bro talk about a gun like this, especially since her mom died from one. We get the sense that this is a different type of fear than when Wolff shows up at the cabin though, because there is something darker and trickier happening here.
Quote #7
The only frightening thing was how easy it had been, but it would be years before he understood that. (18.57)
When he shoots the gun, Sig's surprised by how naturally it comes to him. At the time, he's excited, but later, he wonders if that's the best feeling. We see that Sig goes through different emotions when it comes to guns, and fear is often involved.
Quote #8
It made sense now. Why they'd run almost all their lives, and what it was Einar had been running from, what he'd been scared of. It was like hearing the other half of a story that had been hidden from her. All that time, Einar had been waiting for Wolff to track him down. (29.51)
We totally get it—if we'd been running our whole lives, we might feel afraid too. The thing is, Sig's not really sure what to feel afraid of since he hasn't been aware he's been running this whole time.
Quote #9
She swallowed her fear, and suddenly feeling the need for some kind of help, wondered where her mother's little black book was. Without knowing it she longed for the faith it contained, for the hope it might give, where there was none. (29.53)
When in trouble, Anna turns to the Bible. She's not sure whether she believes it quite like her mom, but she knows it can calm her fears—at least a little bit.
Quote #10
Sig's fears were also more pressing than the possibility of the ice breaking, as he kept one eye on his dogs and the other on the gun under the blanket. But as they came closer to the brown smudge he'd seen from the shore, and saw it was indeed Einar's stuff from the sled, he found himself picturing his father's terrible end again. (33.18)
Especially since his dad just died from falling in the ice, we think Sig is right to be scared of this one. Luckily he doesn't fall, but the fear is almost as bad as the event itself because he can't control it and he knows what will happen if it does break.