Mortality and Death Quotes in The Bourne Identity

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

"Treadstone's arrived. I'm to meet him near Rambouillet. At a cemetery."
"That's a ghoulish touch. Why a cemetery?"
"It's supposed to reassure me." (32.45-47)

The cemetery is supposed to reassure Bourne, because he's been there before. But it also suggests that Bourne feels very comfortable with death.

Quote #11

To survive he had to bring in the assassin; if he failed he was a dead man. And there would be no life for Marie St. Jacques. She would be destroyed, imprisoned, perhaps killed, for an act of faith that became an act of love. (33.34)

This is a good, short illustration of why Marie is important to the book. Bourne's motivation before he meets Marie is simple survival: it's just an eye for an eye, a death for a death. There can't really be any other motive for killing when his memory and mission are wiped out. Marie, though, adds altruism. After he meets Marie, Bourne's not just about survival, anymore; he's also about faith and love.

Quote #12

The line between belief and disbelief so thin…as thin as it was for the man-corpse whose name was Jason Bourne.

As mentioned in one of the earlier quotes, we get the image of Bourne as a zombie assassin, staggering around looking for someone's brain to eat since his own isn't working right, what with the amnesia and everything. "Cain is for Carlos and Carlos is for Cain…need brains!"