Other Voices, Other Rooms Memory and the Past Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

"This is the first year a cricket hasn't visited," she said. "Every summer one has always hidden in the fireplace, and sang till autumn: remember, Randolph, how Angela Lee would never let us kill it?" (1.4.65)

Miss Amy feels tied to her home because of the memories she has in it. For her, they are always present. What's strange is that this year something is different—there had always been a cricket except for now, which happens to be when Joel comes. Maybe his presence jerks the family out of the past.

Quote #8

"Have you never heard what the wise men say: all of the future exists in the past." (1.4.84)

Randolph is always talking in mysteries. Here he seems to be giving Joel a warning, and the readers some foreshadowing. If all of the future exists in the past, then it isn't important to look forward. One can just stay underneath the memories of a lifetime, which is what Randolph is doing.

Quote #9

But Little Sunshine stayed on: it was his rightful home, he said, for if he went away, as he had once upon a time, other voices, other rooms, voices lost and clouded, strummed his dreams. (1.5.27)

Again, space and time are tied together. Every character in the novel has deep roots in a certain spot, which has to do with where their own past and their family memories are located. When Little Sunshine leaves the hotel, he looses his connection with his past and, therefore, himself.