How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
It seems like I've been held down for so long, maybe it's the sleeping pills and the tranquilizers, but there are moments when I'd really like to just burst loose, but I guess those days are gone forever! I'm really confused! I wish I had someone to talk to! (66.1)
Alice really needs a friend or a mentor, pronto. She's always so confused and needs advice, but feels like there is no one she can turn to, which is pretty sad. However, would having a confidant have stopped her from doing all the self-harming she does?
Quote #5
They hate my hair, which they still want me to wear in a flip like the kiddies, and they talked and talked and talked, but never once did they even hear one thing I was trying to say to them. In fact at the beginning, when they were telling me about their deep concern, I had the overwhelming desire to break down and tell them everything. I wanted to tell them! I wanted more than anything in the world to know that they understood, but naturally they just kept on talking and talking because they are incapable of really understanding anything. […] They simply won't or can't or don't want to listen, and we kids keep winding up back in the same old frustrating, lost, lonely corner with no one to relate to either verbally or physically. (69.1)
It takes two to tango, and Alice is a terrible dance partner. Her parents try to express a serious concern, but Alice is so consumed with her own thought process that she doesn't listen at all… and then accuses them of doing the same thing to her. Communication has to go both ways, and we're watching it fail colossally, which just exacerbates Alice's feelings of isolation.
Quote #6
It's a wonderful and exciting and beautiful city, but I really wish I were home. Of course I couldn't tell Chris that. (88.1)
Doesn't it get frustrating? Why can't she tell Chris that she's homesick? What would be so bad about admitting a perfectly normal feeling? It's stuff like this that makes Alice feel so alone—but if she ever reached out, she'd discover that Chris is feeling the same way.