Wise Blood

“Going to Taulkinham. Don’t know nobody there, but I’m going to do some things”  

Hazel Motes utters this statement to Mrs. Hitchcock on the train ride to Taulkinham. It signals that even this early on in the narrative Motes has some intention of spreading his ideas. 

“I reckon you think you been redeemed” 

Hazel Motes repeats this phrase twice to a shocked Mrs. Hitchcock on the train ride to Taulkinham. This phrase signals Motes’ anti-Christian sentiments, and it’s the first instance of several in which Motes challenges the beliefs of those around him. 

“Where’d you hear about her? She don’t usually have no preachers for company”

A Taulkinham taxi driver says this to Hazel Motes on the drive to Mrs. Watts’ house. Motes is wearing his grandfather’s preacher hat and the taxi driver mistakes him for a preacher. Motes adamantly denies it; this is the first instance of several where characters mistake Motes for a preacher.