How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
If you touch me I will bruise; if I shift, to ease my weight, blood rivers from my nose. I am saintly, poetic; I am demise, otherworld. But when Finnigan runs, I run with him. (3.2)
In this cryptic opener, Gabriel shares with us the first time he met his alter ego. We'd like to point out how Gabriel describes himself is contradictory: both good (saintly) and evil (demise). In these moments, he is at his most honest with us since he is both perfect angel (Gabriel) and devil (Finnigan).
Quote #2
He glanced at me with his predator's eyes. "Sometimes you get a thrashing even when you try to be good."
I caught a breath—until I heard him speak those words, I'd never known that other boys also suffered in this way, that every boy feels he has some mischief owed to him, restitution for the times he's been punished without fair cause. (5.18-19)
Can you really call hanging onto your friend's stolen money a good deed? We're not sure the label quite applies, but the boys' logic is interesting nonetheless. Gabriel feels he deserves certain things out of life, and one of those things is revenge. We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but that's not good either.
Quote #3
"You will only be good things—you'll never get angry or fight. And I will only be bad things—I will always get angry and fight. We'll be like opposites—like pictures in the water." (5.37)
Try as they might, Gabriel and Finnigan quickly learn that one person can't just be pure good or evil. We all have a mix of emotions and characteristics that create both of these outcomes.