How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Lauderback was Balfour's contemporary in age, and yet from the first meeting the latter deferred to him almost as a son to a father…(I.2.9).
In keeping with Balfour's claim that gold towns make strange bedfellows—er, family members—you definitely find a lot of references to various people (sometimes unlikely ones) feeling like family. It seems that Balfour felt like Lauderback was a kind of father figure because of how commanding/puffed up Lauderback was.
Quote #5
How could he have been so stupid? Francis Carver had been smuggling the drug into China, using the Sook family warehouse as a liaison point. Francis Carver had betrayed his father (II.8.132).
Sook's motives for wanting to kill Frank Carver are family oriented. When Carver was smuggling opium through China while using the Sook family warehouse and name as a cover, he ended up getting Sook's father executed. So, Sook wants to kill him to avenge the damage Carver did to their family name and, of course, his father specifically.
Quote #6
'Why did you say it, if not to say, simply, that you cared for the man, and loved him, as you would love your own? 'Brother' is another word for love, I think. The love we choose to give—and gladly.'
Tauwhare thought about this, and then said, 'Some brothers you cannot choose.'
'Ah,' said Devlin. 'No indeed. We cannot choose our blood, can we? We cannot choose our families. Yes: you draw a nice distinction there. Very nice.'
'And within a family,' Tauwhare went on, encouraged by this praise, 'two brothers can be very different men' (I.11.23-26).
Here, Cowell Devlin is talking to Te Rau Tauwhare, whom he knew had thought of Crosbie Wells like a brother. They are reflecting on what it means to choose someone as a brother, as opposed to being stuck with one. Devlin is particularly interested in this topic of brothers because he wants to find out of Te Rau knows about any bros Crosbie had …