A woman with a gun was kind of a man in girls' clothes, a transvestite with an external dildo.
-- Madonna (Chapter 1: Sexing the Pheasant paragraph 1)

Importance: The character struggles with shooting the bird by considering the importance and relevance of guns. While she's having a spiritual crisis after shooting the bird, her thoughts still turn to material things, like the fashion side of guns and the power they have in an image.

She had killed it, but she was also sorry. In the end, that was all that mattered. Do not have violence in your heart.
-- Madonna (Chapter 1: Sexing the Pheasant paragraph 4)

Importance: Madonna feels guilty for killing the pheasant. She was excited to go on the hunt, but is surprised by the negative feelings she experiences when the bird she shoots falls to her feet and dies before her eyes. During the brief time it suffers, she feels many emotions and does much soul searching.

After years in the bush he saw all...
-- Narrator (Chapter 2: Girl and Giraffe paragraph 2)