Is there a quote or scene in The Jackal’s Mistress that stood out for you? Why do you suppose it resonated?
I highlighted,
“You moved ahead because otherwise you would die where you stood. There was no safety in stillness.”
While this was a quote from a battle scene, I believe it can be applied to life in general, underscoring the need to continually strive and to grow, particularly in the face of adversity.
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Weybridge had met men like Morgan before. On the surface, they were civilized. And, perhaps, without war they would have remained that way. But war gave them permission to be who they really were, menwhowere comfortable killing all the kindness and magic and beauty in the world, men whose souls were bleak and, therefore, dangerous.
That passage really stood out for me, because it encapsulates what the book is really about: the nature and price of war.
I really liked the quote from Johnathan when he is feeling the anticipations of violence
“Or maybe it was just the fact that man was a monster. Perhaps God, whatever or whomever he was, had not created us in his image, but instead saw us more like the minotaur, part man and part bull, or the animated corpse birthed by Mary Shelly. We hunted and killed with greater ferocity and precision than any other animal in Vermont or Virgina. And, it seemed, no classroom or book could bleed that from a person.”
This quote really stood out for me when I thought about people having to kill other people in war, the great toll it has on their humanity.