How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The wind told me it's found. I jump from my tree (they are all my trees) and click for Surrender and breach the hill, him running in the lead. Surrender has heavy bones, heavy ears, a timber tail, a gate-post skull, but he's light as butter on his feet: he runs back and forth, up and down, flushing birds that flew off yesterday, chasing rabbits that are stew. (2.1)
Finnigan has a sense about the forest in a way that Gabriel and everyone else seem to lack. It's just one of the ways he shows off his spirituality, not in a religious, but more natural sense. This different spirituality is also a way of marking Finnigan as separate from himself for Gabriel.
Quote #2
This was true—I imagined my parents would very much relish having an angel for a son. Who, after all, would not? Still, I didn't like the idea. There was something soul-selling about it: somewhere in its gluey depths, there was a trick concealed. "But what about you?" I asked. "You'd be in trouble all the time." (5.33)
Immediately upon hearing that he will now behave well, Gabriel makes the jump to thinking about being an angel. Why? He's one for extremes. Plus, he thinks about this pact as giving him divine goodness in some way.
Quote #3
"That's not really a bad thing to do, is it? I mean, that's what God does, isn't it?" Finnigan glanced at me and splintered the twig and I could feel his mind ticking. I could feel him understanding what I said, and not liking it. Instinct warned me to be quiet, but I continued gamely on. As a partner in the pact, I wouldn't be censored by fear of him. I said, "Anyone would think you were the angel, not me." (9.59)
Hey, as long as God does it, it's cool, right? Finnigan thinks this reasoning is just fine, but we might question his motives. It's great to look to a deity for wisdom and guidance, but justification? Not so much.
Quote #4
The hose was wrestled earthward, the nose pointed at the car, and water speared into the fire's black heart; sparks raced skyward like demons. The fire hissed, dodging the spray; flames wrapped furiously around the tires and heaved out greasy smoke. (9.104)
Notice how the fire is described here, as though it's personified. Gabriel seems to think of the fires in this way, perhaps because they are so alive and significant to him—so just like Finnigan, Gabriel sees the life and language of nature.
Quote #5
From the pulpit the priest reminded his flock that nothing is worth the price of a life, no crime unforgivable by God. My father replied that, by wading uninvited into the argument, the Church was bringing itself dangerously to the attention of the godless firebug. (9.53)
It's telling that a group of vigilantes and angry men try to settle the score in the church. We get that it's the cornerstone of the community, but it's yet another way in which the spiritual seems to permeate everything in the town.
Quote #6
He came already named, in honor of me: surrender. The angel thought he stopped the fires; he didn't. It was only Surrender. (10.1)
Finnigan thinks about how the dog's name is part of his influence over people—specifically Gabriel. Finnigan makes people surrender, and has a powerful, almost invisible quality when doing so. No one seems to target Finnigan (or Gabriel) for all the wrong doing that he does in the town.
Quote #7
Across the garden stands the fence where years ago I carved my name. The angel treated the scratchings like a holy relic. His only proof of me. I was so often tempted to scrub the letters off. After a while, the weather did it for me. Now there's no word, no name, no proof, just the fence. (14.2)
One word stands out to us here: relic. Finnigan doesn't talk about his name scratched into the fence as though it's a reminder or symbol; instead, it's something with a holy connotation. Perhaps that's because it's communication between a devil and angel.
Quote #8
There's an antiseptic smell in the room. Also: trepidation. Also: me. Finally he opens his eyes. Their color's the same—gasoline-blue. You look like you've seen a ghost, I say; he smiles and says, Finnigan. (16.11)
In some ways, Finnigan is a ghost, or at least some kind of apparition since he's actually part of Gabriel. What's even more telling is the fact that we don't get these lines verbalized between the two, but written in italics (not dialogue). You might have noticed this is how some of Gabriel's thoughts are written, too…
Quote #9
And the morning after I argued with Finnigan between the ramshackle fence and the chicken shed, Surrender brought home a small slain piglet which I buried in a race against the sun which rose unstoppably, like a vengeful spirit, to expose the crime. "Surrender," I whispered, "be careful," but the dog was already sleeping on the lawn, worn out by his escapades. (17.16)
Even the way Gabriel talks about his dog's killing sprees and victims seems other-worldly. It's clear that Gabriel does believe in other spirits and beings, even though this is said as somewhat of a joke. To him, everything can rise again—even animals.
Quote #10
His body stood beside me, true—but his spirit had returned to Finnigan. And it was spirit that mattered, I had to believe. I had to make myself believe the body did not matter. "Good dog," I murmured: "Stay with Finnigan." (21.28)
Gabriel has a very spiritual understanding of his dog—instead of merely wanting to save Surrender's life, Gabriel seeks to save his spirit. Here, we see that he can't protect his best fur friend from the bullet, but he can detach his soul from his body.