How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
I may have been no more than fourteen, but it seemed to me I'd lived two lives already. My new life was still beginning, though my old life had come to an end some time ago. (13.44)
Chiyo definitely lives a more difficult life than most young people her age, but that makes the book interesting. No one wants to read a boring coming-of-age story where everything goes perfectly for the main character.
Quote #5
I've heard it said that the week in which a young girl prepares for her debut as an apprentice geisha is like when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. (14.1)
A young girl becoming an apprentice (and later a geisha) is a metamorphosis of sorts, coming with an assortment of new, colorful kimonos. It's like a coming-out ritual for a debutante or other sort of society girl to mark her coming of age.
Quote #6
Every time I caught a glimpse of myself in the glass of a shop, I felt I was someone to be taken seriously; not a girl anymore, but a young woman. (14.11)
We're surprised Sayuri existed before Britney Spears, because Britney would sing of exactly this same feeling many years later.