How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Sabriel met his gaze, and her eyes were not the uncertain, flickering beacons of adolescence.
"I am only eighteen years old on the outside," she said, touching her palm against her breast in an almost wistful motion. "But I first walked in Death when I was twelve. I encountered a Fifth Gate Rester when I was fourteen, and banished it beyond the Ninth Gate. When I was sixteen I stalked and banished a Mordicant that came near the school. A weakened Mordicant, but still […] A year ago, I turned the final page of the Book of the Dead. I don't feel young anymore." (3.27-28)
When Sabriel first meets Colonel Horyse, he compares her to his own daughter, who's the same age. This is the first time we hear Sabriel talk about how her training in necromancy has forced her to grow up too much, too soon.
Quote #2
There was minimal sex education at Wyverley College—none at all till you were fifteen. The older girls' stories about menstruation were many, varied and often meant to scare. None of Sabriel's friends had reached puberty before her, so in fear and desperation she had entered Death. Her father had told her that the one the paper boat summoned would answer any questions and would protect her—and so it had. The glowing spirit had answered all her questions and many more besides, till Sabriel was forced to return to Life. (5.10)
Here's another example of how Sabriel has to grow up too fast, without any parents nearby to help out. When she got her period for the first time, she had to walk into Death and summon a spirit version of her mom so she could ask questions. And you thought buying tampons was awkward.
Quote #3
[Sabriel:] "So what can I do? What would Father—Abhorsen… or any Abhorsen, do in my place?"
[…]
The last question seemed to make her duty clear. Sabriel felt sure her father would free the man. That's what he did, that was what he lived for. The duty of an Abhorsen was to remedy unnatural necromancy and Free Magic sorcery. (13.40-42)
When Sabriel begins her adventure, she immediately looks to her dad's example for guidance. She's accepting that she needs to step into his shoes, even though she might not be ready.
Quote #4
She lowered him hastily to the ground, all too aware that she was embracing a naked young man—in circumstances considerably different than the various scenarios she'd imagined with her friends at school, or heard about from the earthier and more privileged day-girls. (13.77)
When Sabriel frees Touchstone from the prow of the ship, she's suddenly in close physical contact with a young man—well, a two-hundred-year-old young man. And after an entire childhood spent in an all-girls' boarding school, this is definitely a major milestone in growing up.
Quote #5
"Please, please, just Sabriel," she said tiredly. "I've only just left school—I'm only eighteen! Calling me milady seems ridiculous." (15.37)
Even though Sabriel is, in many ways, trying to assume the very adult job of Abhorsen, she's really not emotionally ready for it at first—and she's definitely not ready to be called "milady." It's like being called ma'am if you're used to hey, kid.
Quote #6
She looked at him, rather startled, and he found himself staring at the reflection of his candle-flame in her dark eyes. Almost for the first time, he really looked at her. He saw the weariness there, and the incipient lines of care, and the way her mouth looked a little sad around the edges. […] She was also beautiful and Touchstone realized that he had thought of her only in terms of her office, as Abhorsen. Not as a woman at all… (20.23)
After a perilous journey with Sabriel, Touchstone really looks at her for the first time before she goes into Death to find her father's spirit. His physical description of her is a reminder of how much she's grown up in such a short time, and this is the moment when his feelings for her begin to transform into romantic love.
Quote #7
He wore the same sort of clothes as she did, complete with the surcoat of silver keys. He wasn't quite as tall as she remembered. (22.49)
Have you ever visited a childhood location, like your elementary school, and noticed that everything looks much smaller? That's what Sabriel's realizing here—the last time she saw her father, she was a little girl, and she's not that little girl anymore.
Quote #8
She seemed to diminish in size, till once again she was a little girl, running to his embrace at the school gates. As she could then, she heard the slow beating of his heart. Only now, she heard the beats as grains in a time-piece, counting his hard-won hundred hundreds, counting till it was time for him to die. (23.37)
One of the most poignant things about growing up is seeing your parents as older people, and coming to terms with their mortality. Sabriel has an emotional moment like this when she meets her father in Death and realizes that his time in Life is limited.
Quote #9
Horyse looked at her, thinking that she no longer reminded him of his own daughter. She had become Abhorsen, a person beyond his ken, in such a short time... (24.53)
Sabriel's journey is bookended by visits to the Wall, where she meets Colonel Horyse each time. This is her second visit, after having journeyed through the Old Kingdom, and Horyse remarks on her transformation into a much more adult role.
Quote #10
Sabriel looked at the students, their faces bright and open, a thin layer of fear laid over excitement at the spice of the unknown. Two of her best school friends, Sulyn and Ellimere, were among the crowd, but she felt far distant from them now. She probably looked it too, she thought, seeing respect and something like wonder in their eyes. (27.29)
Sabriel's school friends see a dramatic change in her when Sabriel returns to school after her journey, and Sabriel picks up on the difference in their reaction.