How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"What you need is a goddamn shrink!" John's words threw themselves off the tip of his tongue like suicides.
She said what if she did, he didn't have to call them shrinks.
"Shrink," he said. "Shrink, shrink." (1.4.46-48)
Once again, Yolanda is sensitive to the use of language (in this case the use of the word "shrink" to mean "psychologist"), and John doesn't get it. He keeps using the word, just to make her mad. (A tactic commonly known as the annoying-little-brother technique.)
Quote #8
He is saying I love you, she thought! "Babble," she mimicked him. "Babble babble babble babble." Maybe that meant, I love you too, in whatever tongue he was speaking. (1.4.105)
Whoa... what's going on here? Communication seems to have completely broken down here. But as you may have noticed, this crisis isn't completely out of the blue. John and Yolanda haven't understood each other for a long time. The babbling just makes it really obvious.
Quote #9
She has developed a random allergy to certain words. She does not know which ones, until they are on the tip of her tongue and it is too late, her lips swell, her skin itches, her eyes water with allergic reaction tears. (1.4.141)
This is how we know how important words are to Yolanda—they actually have the power to make her sick. Certain words give her an allergic reaction. Hm... maybe her entire mental breakdown has something to do with language.