How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
If Thomas Lincoln ever tried to comfort his children in the wake of their mother's death—if he ever asked them how they felt, or shared his own grief—there is no record of it. He seems to have spent the months after her burial in near-total silence. Waking before dawn. Boiling his coffee. Picking at his breakfast. Working till nightfall, and (more often than not) drinking himself into a stupor. A short grace at supper was often the only time Abe and Sarah heard his voice. (2.2)
Here's a man in major need of grief counseling. Too bad they didn't have that in 19th-century America. All Thomas Lincoln had was the bottle, and eventually a new wife to help him move on. This scene gives us a hint as to where Abe's own battles with the blues may have come from. It looks like his abolitionist beliefs weren't the only thing he inherited from papa.
Quote #5
"It is in this century, Abraham, that most of us turn to suicide—either by starving ourselves, staking ourselves through the heart, devising some method of taking our own heads, or, in the most desperate cases, by burning ourselves alive." (3.89)
Vampires may be rich and immortal and sparkly (no, wait, not that), but they can get depressed, too. It ain't easy being undead. Apparently, being immortal can be a big old bummer. They've got way too much free time on their hands.
Quote #6
It had taken him months to emerge from the crippling depression brought on by Ann's death—and while it had renewed his hatred of vampires, he found himself without the energy and passion to hunt them. Now, when a letter from St. Louis arrived in Henry's handwriting, it might go unopened for days (and once opened, it might be weeks before Abe attended to the name inside). Sometimes, if the errand required too much travel, he sent Jack Armstrong in his stead. (7.9)
After his mom died, Abe wanted to run away; after Ann dies, Abe just wants to sit around, watching reruns of The Wonder Years (which is what we call Tuesday—but that's mostly Netflix's fault). It's curious that Abe has a renewed hatred of vampires but no energy to actually kill them. How will Abe get his vampire-killing groove back?