How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I dangled my feet over the cliff. It was one hell of a plummet. Then I thought about Amy. She drove her car off a cliff. You had to be brave to off yourself that way. The suicide had made Amy somewhat of a tortured hero for awhile. At least until the novelty of it wore off. The school planted a tree for her right next to Ryan Wilford's tree. He had died the same year of cancer. But his death hadn't been nearly as sensational as Amy's, so the poor kid died just like he'd lived, in quiet oblivion. (19.11)
Amy's and Ryan's deaths sort of complement each other—Ryan went quietly while Amy went out with a bang. Amy gets more attention due to the way she died, and Jake also clearly has some admiration for her. He thinks Amy was no coward and that it took guts to drive off that cliff.
Quote #8
"Amy didn't kill herself because of you."
Her statement stunned me at first. I stared out at the frothy water. "My head's not that bloated. I never thought she did. The town decided it was because of me. I know she liked me but…" (19.59-60)
Jake confirms what he probably knew all along: Amy wasn't the kind of person who would go to pieces over him. He might blame himself, but deep down he knows that Amy could have committed suicide for any reason.
Quote #9
"Death." I finished for him. "It's alright if you say the word Mr. Dermott, I know she died."
He looked slightly embarrassed. "It's just that it's always hard to talk about a student's death."
"Did she say anything to you in any of your meetings where she was thinking about suicide?"
His face blanched as he stared at me across his desk. "If she had, I assure you I would have mentioned it to her grandmother." He sounded defensive.
"I'm not accusing you of any negligence, Mr. Dermott. I'm just trying to find out what happened to my cousin. And if she did kill herself, I want to know why. She was always a happy person."
His shoulders relaxed some. "The police declared it a suicide, Dani. I know that can be hard to accept. She had a lot to deal with emotionally. Her mother died, she had an aging grandmother as her only family, and she was very concerned about her weight." (24.27-32)
Dani just isn't buying the fact that Amy went looking for death. Of course, Mr. Dermott is interested in pushing this theory for his own reasons. He's clearly given it a lot of practice and come up with a laundry list of reasons why Amy might have driven over that cliff. Heck, maybe he's even rationalized that night by telling himself that her little detour was intentional.