How we cite our quotes: (Part.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
I did things myself. I cut wood for the fire and I put up more shelves, and then I'd go swimming with Janie and the twins sometimes. And I talked to Lone. I didn't do a thing that the others couldn't do, but they all did things I couldn't do. I was mad, mad all the time about that. But I wouldn't of known what to do with myself if I wasn't mad all the time about something or other. (1.4.3)
Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Surrounded by people with paranormal talents, Gerry feels angry that he lacks one. He wants his identity to be that of someone special. Little does he know…
Quote #5
Then he asked, "What about this? You got a radio station, you got four-five receivers, each receiver is fixed up to make something different happen, like one digs and one flies and one makes noise, but each one takes orders from the one place. And each one has its own power and its own thing to do, but they are all apart, Now: is there life like that, instead of radio?"
"Where each organism is part of the whole, but separated? I don't think so . . . unless you mean social organizations, like a team or perhaps a gang of men working, all taking orders from the same boss."
"No," he said immediately, "not like that. Like one single animal." (2.11.41-43)
Radio was still a pretty cool technology in 1953, which probably explains why Sturgeon took so much time to describe it. This is one analogy for the gestalt's identity, but Lone specifies he means the parts would constitute a single life form. It's not quite so that the gestalt parts take orders, however; after all, Janie splits from Gerry in Part 3. Good thing she didn't lose track of her own identity.
Quote #6
He cursed. "Damn mishmash inside you. Thirty-three years old—what you want to live like that for? [...] All by yourself for ten years now 'cept for someone to do your work. Nobody else." (2.12.26-28)
Um, rude. Lone perceives that Alicia Kew has a confused identity. She's stuck between the Alicia who wants to dance and the Miss Kew who wants prudish rules. Unlike the gestalt, she can't successfully share her emotions. We blame her dad.