How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"So I will," Florian said. "Did you imagine we'd simply stroll into Nierkeeping and ask politely to have them set loose?" "No. But not this way. There's going to be bloodshed." "That's certain. Some of ours. Some of theirs. As little as possible, but no avoiding it. Yes, youngster, it may end with killing. We'd be a band of innocent idiots if we didn't expect it. You want your friends. My people, want guns. We'll do whatever we must. Will you?" Theo did not reply. Florian looked at him and said quietly, "It's very simple. Are you going with us or not? You need our help, but we need yours if my plan has any chance of working." (16.27-31)
Theo's taken aback that freeing his friends will involve a battle. He didn't know that his actions might have violent consequences for others—a hard realization to come to for a boy from a small town.
Quote #2
"Actually, the Bear is the smarter. He usually sets Old Kasperl straight, as you may have noticed. The chief minister, I am happy to say, finds their humor cuts a little too close to the bone. They were—embodied, that is, in their creator—quite recently invited to a hanging: their own. A tribute to their ability to nettle Cabbarus, but an honor I was grateful to forgo. A whole crew of us scriveners awaited the writing of our last pages in the Carolia Fortress. A few succeeded in escaping. I joined them, not wishing Old Kasperl to make his final public appearance on the gallows. Once out, we all separated. I made my way here. These water rats have been most hospitable. They admire lawbreakers." (14.42)
There's more than one way to skin a cat—and wage a war. Cabbarus stopped people from disseminating opinions that might oppose his, like Old Kasperl's cartoon, so he could control what people read—and thus what they thought.
Quote #3
They were field militia. He recognized the green tunics and white crossbelts. Without thinking, he flung up his arms to defend himself. One of the soldiers, at this movement, swung the butt of his musket and drove it into Theo's ribs. The blow doubled him up. He fell to his knees, clutching his belly, gagging at the pain. The man who struck him glanced down briefly: without malice, without curiosity, as if he found Theo an uninteresting specimen of livestock. (2.1)
When Theo tries to print stuff for Musket, he gets shut down by the soldiers sent by Cabbarus. The soldier here is so used to violence and looking down on other people that he's become desensitized, and looks at Theo like a piece of meat instead of as a person. That's one really bad effect of war.