How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Such a crucial gap in the history, especially that of a short life, calls attention to itself. A biographer, or a son, must dig deep. Perhaps she knew that the side effect of such a quest was that I'd learn medicine, or that I would find Thomas Stone. (1.1.84)
Marion never got to know his mother, so he has no memories of her. This "gap" must gnaw at him, because he decides to fill it up with information he gathers from a historical investigation. What he hasn't experienced he wants to learn by reading and talking to others who did.
Quote #5
As abruptly as it started, in two days, no more than three, the spell would be over, and after a very long sleep Stone would be back at work as if nothing had happened, never making any reference to how he'd inconvenienced the hospital, the memory of it erased. (1.2.42)
Whereas Sister Mary Joseph Praise forgets her past because it is so painful to her, Dr. Stone forgets his past because it is so painful to others. His drunken binges cause considerable damage to the hospital and its staff, but he never even acknowledges them.
Quote #6
When, years later, she'd look back at this moment of change, look at it clinically ("Milk the history! Exactly when and exactly how did it start? Onset is everything! In the anamnesis is the diagnosis!" as her professor would say), she would see that her transformation actually took place over many months. However, it was only as she was falling out of the sky over the Bab al-Mandab that she understood that change had come. (1.3.44)
The word anamnesis comes from Greek and means remembrance or reminiscence. In this case, however, it refers to a medical history. The doctor's job isn't just to work with the body in front of her, but also to ask the patient for memories of symptoms and pain in order to fit the past into the present and make a diagnosis.