How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I remember my first sight of him—the sound and scavenger look of him—surrounded by summer; I remember the stillness of the day and the density of the air. Neither of us was older than nine or ten. I was skimming a car along the garden fence when Finnigan crossed the brink of my vision. (3.4)
The sights and smells come rushing back to Gabriel as he thinks of the day he met Finnigan. This is a crucial moment for our main man, because this is when he claims to meet his friend. If you think about what's really happening here, though, this is when Gabriel surrenders to having an alter ego who does his dirty work for him.
Quote #2
There was nothing for it but to answer. "Sometimes he's in my dreams. That's all."
"And you remember what you did." (5.24)
Talking about Vernon, Gabriel chokes up. His guilt over his brother's death surfaces often for him, and Gabriel is tormented by memories of his brother even years later.
Quote #3
I remember that the sound of the fire was a continual roar—I remember blocking my ears to the boom of eucalypts exploding. For seven days and seven nights, scorched leaves fell as hellish rain. I remember the air smelt of everything that had died, that birds dropped like pebbles from the smoke-raddled sky. I remember a truck with the pace of a hearse and on its tray a horror of bloated remains. I remember the farmers watching it pass and how one of them sagged in the gutter, and rested his head on his knees. (7.3)
For how much Gabriel promises to stay away from any bad stuff and stick to the good, he sure does remember a lot about the specifics of the fire. If we dissect what he's saying here, we'll find that it's not just about the effect the fire had on the town, but his memory of what it was like to be in the midst of it.
Quote #4
"You lit the fires as much as I did. You told me, go out and burn. Besides, we're reflections, blood brothers, remember? What I do, you do."
The cold wind had brought water to my eyes; I smeared them dry on my sleeve. I could smell, on the breeze, the earthen scent of him. "You remember that, don't you, Anwell?"
Something dangerous wafted from him—something not to be denied. "Yes, I remember." (9.89-91)
Hmm… is it just us, or is this a big clue? Through Gabriel's memories, we start to get a fuller picture of the past, complete with what actually happened instead of just what Gabriel wants us to know. Plus, we always get a bunch of sensory details about exactly what Gabriel was experiencing in the moment, which helps us picture it, too.
Quote #5
Time is shorter than I'd thought: very well. I haven't seen Finnigan for more than a year. It seems longer than that. This small room irked him when he was last here; my weakness infuriated him. He'd urged me to get up and walk. He'd flirted with Sarah and been rude to the doctor. I'd had to ask him to leave. He'd done so in black temper, and I knew that one day he'd return. (15.1)
They say time heals all wounds, but not for Gabriel, who thinks about time as too short because he wants to put more distance between him and Finnigan. His memory of how Finnigan reacted to his requests scares him, too, like he's warning himself of what might happen in the future through his memory of the past.
Quote #6
For hours at a time I gave Finnigan no thought. I was distracted, morose, feverish, vacant, I felt I lived in some pleasantly maddening cage, where my thoughts could roam but never beyond her. (15.23)
As Gabriel gets nearer and nearer to death, his mind wanders more and his memories fade. That's the thing about memory: Sometimes it slips away when we want it most. Gabriel wants to think about Evangeline and the happy times in his life, but instead, he's plagued with stronger memories of Finnigan.
Quote #7
My mind jumps hectically across the recollection of that last day. It lands at one memory and is horribly jolted, leaps for salvation to another, finds itself equally horrified. For this reason I've never liked recalling or speaking of that day. (17.7)
Is Gabriel's memory fading, or does he just not want to remember what happened in the past? He remembers very specific, minute details when it comes to all of his recollections, yet suddenly his memory halts. Something tells us it has more to do with his conscience than anything else.
Quote #8
I've spent this long day remembering; now it's night. My recollections have reached the place beyond which I don't wish to go. Yet there'll be no point to this exhumation if I do not continue it now. (19.1)
Sifting through the past wears Gabriel out. Check out the word he uses here: exhumation, as though he's bringing up a body from the ground. In some ways, this is literally happening with the discovery of the bones of his parents. In other ways, he's thinking about the process of remembering the past.
Quote #9
I shrug, unruffled—I remember. I remember standing in the forest with Surrender at my heels and the angel staggering off through the trees, tilting like a gravestone. I remember thinking, You'll regret this. "Listen!" I bark: I resent his accusatory tone. (20.7)
It should come as no surprise that Finnigan has a temper—he is the evil twin, after all. What is surprising here is that we get one of his memories, since the majority of the novel is consumed with Gabriel's notion of the past. Is this any different from Gabriel's memories?
Quote #10
"You know that, don't you? What happened before—none of it matters here. Only you matter here. Nothing that hurts you will come through that door." (21.16)
Afraid of the past controlling his life, Gabriel becomes fretful. Sarah soothes him by telling him that he's safe—regardless of if he is. Now it's not just Gabriel's memories that are scary, but the past itself, coming to destroy the legacy of his life.