How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Close—he was close. He repositioned the nest, made a new and smaller dent with his thumb, and struck again.
More sparks, a slight glow, then nothing.
It's me, he thought. I'm doing something wrong. I do not know this—a cave dweller would have had a fire by now, a Cro-Magnon man would have a fire by now—but I don't know this. I don't know how to make a fire. (9.19-21)
We often think of ourselves as more sophisticated and more knowledgeable about the world than people in the past might have been, right? But Brian realizes that most of us are probably totally clueless when it comes to the basic skills needed for survival. Kind of flips our whole "superior modern man" thing on its head, huh?
Quote #5
What makes fire? He thought back to school. To all those science classes. Had he ever learned what made a fire? Did a teacher ever stand up there and say, "This is what makes a fire…" (9.26)
Brian reflects on the fact that, in all his schooling, he's never studied the practical process of making a fire. Brian may have studied what chemical components make up a fire, but he must have missed the class where they were sent to the woods to try it for themselves.
Quote #6
[The turtle] had come up from the water for a reason, a good reason, and he must try to understand the reason, he must change to fully understand the reason himself or he would not make it. (10.22)
In order to understand the creatures around him, Brian realizes, he needs to learn to think in a whole new way. It's not just a case of missing knowledge, but of developing a totally different way of looking at the world around him.