How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
The big man looks down at me with a sadness in his eyes. Mournfully, he says, "I never get to do nothing." (24.33)
Just think of the many people historically who have suffered from lack of freedom – slaves, child laborers, those labeled religious heretics – and you can understand how not being allowed to do as you wish, even on a smaller scale, can lead to real suffering.
Quote #8
He lay numb, in a vacuum except for the echo of sounds in his ear and he tried to raise his head from the pavement but couldn't and he wanted to close his eyes but couldn't and he couldn't bear to look at his mother anymore. He. Did. Not. Want. To. Look. At. Her. Anymore. She. Was. Dead." (30.45)
The combination of physical and mental suffering becomes so unbearable here that everything breaks down for Adam. Cormier expresses this by the contrast between a run-on sentence and a sentence broken up into one-word components.
Quote #9
His eyes fluttered like his mother's breath had fluttered long ago and he rose up to the weariness and then settled down into it, soft and gentle and tender... (30.53)
What does Cormier mean by the ambiguous but evocative words, "he rose up to the weariness and then settled down into it"? Is he describing the physical act of fainting, perhaps? Or is he describing an acceptance of pain, or even death?