How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
It was like her personality went in front of her, bright, like a reverse shadow. You felt the force of her from meters away. (1.183)
Marguerite sounds like a rock star, minus the rock. She shines everywhere she goes, and it's clear that everybody adores her. It's important that Shorty describes Marguerite as a reverse shadow—she doesn't belong in the darkness of their life since she's the opposite of what they experience.
Quote #5
In the darkness I can't tell when I'm dreaming and when I'm just thinking. I hear the dead hand beside me scrabbling, scrabbling at the floor. (3.1)
Boom. That's the sound of our minds being blown. Perhaps Shorty can't tell if he's awake or not because he's not really living. He pretends he has a life that matters, but most of the time we see him just going through the motions. In other words, faking it.
Quote #6
I'm going mad with the darkness and the loneliness. The hand has stopped crawling toward me, making that rustling sound, and I think it was only doing that in my imagination to begin with. There's nobody else here. Just me. (7.17)
Hey, we'd go crazy if we were trapped in darkness for a couple days, too. Why? We need to light to read, think, and see. Shorty knows he's been living in the darkness for a long time, but it's not until he's trapped during the earthquake that he realizes it's the source of his madness and loneliness.