How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Esther could not bear the thought of Suzy replacing the familiar image of her sister with the wild-eyed face of the strait-jacketed stereotype chained in an attic. She realized now that it was this stereotype that she and Jacob had begun to imagine the first time they heard the grating of the locks, when they saw the barred windows, and when they shuddered to the screaming of a woman from some high gable. (16.2)
Esther and Jacob have both seen their daughter as a prisoner of her own mind—and of the hospital. They're not entirely wrong, but their view is limited, because they don't understand Deborah's perspective. How is Deborah both confined to and free within her own mind, depending on how you look at it?
Quote #8
(I am free!) Deborah answered, breaking chains and doing a caper. (23.18)
Deborah is communicating via hand signals to Miss Coral. Deborah's in B ward, while Miss Coral is still up in D. Deborah now has more literal freedoms: she can move around on the hospital campus, and she can go out into town. She's also starting to gain more control over her own mind, and this gives her a sense of greater freedom.
Quote #9
On regular days the Semblance could be pulled up like a screen over body and mind, but Sunday called itself Rest and Freedom, and threw one off guard. Sunday promised leisure, peace, holiness, and love. It was a restatement of the wish for human perfection. (26.9).
Deborah calls the outward, well-behaved face you present to the world the "Semblance." But on this particular Sunday, she and Carla wander off the hospital grounds and into the town, where they drop their Semblances. They dance in the rain and stay out past midnight. They feel truly free for a while.