How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She wrote back two weeks later. She said that she forgave me and encouraged me to seek God's forgiveness, and I took her words to heart. It would be five long years before I reached the point when I could truly forgive myself. But I did, and today, I can't help but wonder if your godmother's care was the first real step in my transformation.(Prologue.21)
Is being forgiven by someone the start of change for a lot of people? Shaka seems to think it was pretty significant for him.
Quote #2
That was the routine. As long as there was a threat to my freedom, I acted like I was ready to change, but the moment I got free, I didn't care anymore. It would take ten years and a lot misfortune for me to understand that real change comes only when you are completely and thoroughly disgusted with your actions and the consequences that they produce.(2.14)
Sounds like you've got to hit rock bottom before you can change. Is that true for everybody, or does it apply more in tough situations like the ones Shaka found himself in as a teenager?
Quote #3
Like Dante journeying through theinferno, my life would forever be changed by the things I would witness and take part in—the violence of oppressed against oppressor, predator against prey, and the insane against the criminally insane.(2.28)
Dante doesn't just journey through hell in the Inferno. He's also changed by the trip, and for the better. As ominous as this quote is, it gives us a faint glimmer of hope at a grim moment of the book. It lets us know that Shaka may be transformed for the better too.