How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I've got a form of the plague now, is what I thought. This is Julian's payback. And that's pretty much how it went all morning. Nobody talked to me. […]
It felt really awful being at the table by myself. I felt like everyone was watching me. It also made me feel like I had no friends. I decided to skip lunch and go read in the library. (4.Back from Winter Break.3, 6)
Jack learns that choosing to isolate himself intentionally is less painful than being rejected by others first. Somebody ask Auggie if he knows what Jack's talking about….
Quote #8
"It just feels so weird," I said, "to not have people talking to you, pretending you don't even exist."
Auggie started smiling.
"Ya think? He said sarcastically. "Welcome to my world!" (4.Why I Didn't Sit with August the First Day of School.5-7)
For Jack, it's one thing to be friends with so August and see him treated unkindly by classmates, but it's a whole different thing to personally suffer that same social rejection. Auggie is there to support Jack even though Jack wasn't there for Auggie earlier because Auggie has been there and done that—and he knows all about how "weird" it is.
Quote #9
my family's not like this at all. my mom and dad got divorced when I was four and they pretty much hate each other. i grew up spending half of every week in my dad's apartment in chelsea and the other half in my mom's place in brooklyn heights. i have a half brother who's five years older than me and barely knows I exist. […] it's funny how there's a word like overprotective to describe some parents, but no word that means the opposite. what word do you use to describe parents who don't protect enough? under protective? neglectful? self-involved? lame? all of the above. (5.Valentine's Day.18)
Though we don't hear much more than this about it, Justin's description of his home life shows his emotional isolation from his family. When all of Justin's tics go away while he spends an evening with the Pullman family, we see what a difference a warm emotional connection can make.