How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
I had a growth spurt in the seventh grade: four and a quarter inches in five months. I went from being average height to two inches shy of the six feet I currently am. My hips hurt, I slept a lot, and I only had one pair of pants which fit, but other than that there was no obvious change. I saw myself every day. There was no way to notice how tall I was until I went to the pediatrician and she said, "Ellen, you've gotten really big." (9.1)
Ugh, the teenage years are tough. Isn't it funny how hard it is to see changes in yourself simply because you are too familiar?
Quote #5
I settle into the kitchen and confront my school books. Thanks to my various reading projects (Wuthering Heights, books about art, and books about sexual identity), I am hopelessly behind in all of my classes. I will manage a B minus in French and chemistry. English will totally depend on the essay question. History and math are beyond the pale. I give them up as lost, figuring that the worst that can happen is for Dad to realize that he is more than one step behind who I am. This is something I have, in fact, wished for. My exams will reveal a truer picture of the girl my parents think they know. (10.47)
What is it about Link and Ellen that they keep hoping their tests will somehow reveal their true selves to their parents? Has their communication shut down to such a degree that her parents are now forced to guess at how their kids feel based on the grades that they get? Would that ever be accurate or fair?
Quote #6
We are sprawled across his bed, surrounded by drafts of his essay. I know that if James were somebody else, I would not fearlessly lie around on a bed with him. It amazes me how I have turned into a girl who worries about sex. Both having it and not having it. Less than a year ago, I was a girl bringing home notes that detailed my inability to socialize. And now James and I navigate around each other's bodies, trying to establish boundaries even as we erase them. (10.57)
Ellen has certainly come a long way from the Ellen of yesteryear, but probably not as much as she thinks. She's no social butterfly, she's just obsessed with James, and although that has broken down several barriers, she still has a long way to go before she should start patting her own back for her social skills.