In MLA format, I am quoting a conversation but only using one side of it, yet I seem to be adding many quotation marks over the individual's statements, Do I have to keep doing this and adding the ellipses after I finish one statement or just keep one inner/outer mark and only use the ellipses?
here is the whole page 217, from Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
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journal notes for the week. I was just finishing that when Travis sat down next to me and asked this question:
"You believe in all this Earthseed stuff, don't you?"
"Every word," I answered.
I reached down, picked up a small stone, and put it on the table between us. "If I could analyze this and tell you all that it was made of, would that mean I'd made up its contents?"
He didn't do more than glance at the rock. He kept his eyes on me. "So what did you analyze to get Earthseed?"
"Other people," I said, "myself, everything I could hear, see, and all the history I could learn. My father is a—was—a minister and a teacher. My stepmother ran a neighborhood school. I had a chance to see a lot."
"What did your father think of your idea of God?"
"He never knew."
"You never had the chance to tell him."
I shrugged. "He's the one person in the world I worked hard not to hurt."
"Dead?"
"Yes."
"Yeah. My parents, too." He shook his head. "People don't live long these days."
There was a period of silence. After a while, he said, "How did you get your ideas about God?"
"I was looking for God," I said. "I wasn't looking for mythology or mysticism or magic. I didn’t know whether there was a god to find, but I wanted to know. God would have to be a power that cannot be defied by anyone or anything."
"Change."
"Change, yes.”
"But it's not a god. It's not a person or an intelligence or even a thing. It's just... I don't know. An idea."
I smiled. Was that such a terrible criticism? "It's a truth," I said.
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Now, this is my first option to quote:
“‘So what did you analyze to get Earthseed?' ‘Other people,… myself, everything I could read, hear, see, all the history I could learn... I had a chance to see a lot’... ‘I was looking for God... I didn’t know whether there was a god to find, but I wanted to know. God would have to be a power that cannot be defied by anyone or anything.’ ‘Change.’ ‘Change, yes’” (217).
now here's my second:
“‘So what did you analyze to get Earthseed?' ‘Other people,… myself, everything I could read, hear, see, all the history I could learn... I had a chance to see a lot... I was looking for God... I didn’t know whether there was a god to find, but I wanted to know. God would have to be a power that cannot be defied by anyone or anything.’ ‘Change.’ ‘Change, yes’” (217).
notice how both quotes are the same although they're different, the second has less quote mark, please comment which is best for me to use for my essay, please?