How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Soon all the embassies were ringed with barbed wire and machine guns and it was impossible to continue taking them by storm… (13.61)
The barbed wire and machine guns surrounding the embassies suggest that the country itself has been turned into a prison. Ironically, the conservatives, under the rule of the Socialist government, had fled the country in fear of state oppression. Now it's the leftist opponents to the military regime who cannot leave.
Quote #8
He cursed his voluntary imprisonment, and raged impatiently for news of his friends, […] He began to be obsessed by the idea that he was a coward and a traitor for not having shared the fate of so many others, and felt that it would be more honorable to surrender and meet his fate. (13.93)
Pedro Tercero seems to feel that forced imprisonment would be "more honorable," and therefore preferable to voluntary imprisonment.
Quote #9
After a few months Blanca realized that she could not hold him prisoner indefinitely and gave up her plans to reduce his spirit in order to make him her permanent lover. She understood that he was being eaten up alive because for him freedom was even more important than love, and that there were no magic pills that would make him change his mind. (13.93)
Blanca's decision is a commentary on the inutility of imprisonment. She realizes she can't get what she wants by forcefully keeping Pedro Tercero in her home. Other jailers in the novel also fail to accomplish their objectives through imprisoning people – the novel doesn't give a single example of torturers extracting a confession from their prisoners.