How we cite our quotes: (Part.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #7
His bench-mark, his goal-point, had for years been that thing which happened to him on the bank of the pool. He had to understand that. If he could understand that, he was sure he could understand everything. Because for a second there was this other, and himself, and a flow between them without guards or screens or barriers—no language to stumble over, no ideas to misunderstand, nothing at all but a merging." (1.29.17)
Lone ponders Baby's statement that only those who love themselves can be part of people they love. His moment with Evelyn by the pool allowed him to emotionally commune with someone else for the first time. Before her, he was too locked up inside himself to even know himself, let alone love himself.
Quote #8
"Gerry, you can live here. I don't come from no school. I'll never turn you in."
"Yeah, huh?"
"He hates you," said Janie.
"What am I supposed to do about that?" he wanted to know.
Janie turned her head to look into the bassinet. "Feed him." (2.2.87-91)
Lone and the kids try to win the hateful Gerry over in this passage. Providing someone a meal has been a basic offering of friendship across cultures for centuries. The way to a guy's heart is through his stomach, after all.
Quote #9
Bleshing, that was Janie's word. She said Baby told it to her. She said it meant everyone all together being something, even if they all did different things. Two arms, two legs, one body, one head, all working together, although a head can't walk and arms can't think. Lone said maybe it was a mixture of "blending" and "meshing," but I don't think he believed that himself. It was a lot more than that. (2.4.3)
Imagine a rock-and-roll band improvising together, forming a whole that is greater than the sum of its individuals without anyone losing their identity, and you have a picture of bleshing. This is the way the people of the gestalt collaborate, and it requires a camaraderie sort of friendship to happen.