My brother was a boy and now he's not anything.”
-- Cedar (Act I, Chapter 7)

Importance: Cedar is remembering a time when the family had attended the Summerlost Festival. Ben became upset and cried until his mother took him to a grassy area nearby to play for awhile. Cedar says Ben had then sat on her lap, “in a kind of curly way like a puppy would have, but he was a boy” (19). The memory, like many memories, makes her sad to a degree but she is also struggling with the unknown because she does not know if Ben's life has simply ended or if his soul is somewhere better.

What if this life was all Ben got? People said he was sweet and special – and he was – but he was also sad and angry.”
-- Cedar (Act I, Chapter 14 )

Importance: Cedar is struggling with the idea of an afterlife. She is fully aware that Ben's brief life on earth was painful...