How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
It was getting harder for me to talk, harder to think, and I couldn't eat more than two apples a day. Something had soured inside me—it was like drinking vinegar. My stomach cramped so painfully that I could barely stand it. At least I wasn't quite starving. Not yet. (32.2)
When Hahp figures out how to magically manifest food, all he can make at first are apples. Turns out that man cannot live on apples alone; whether it's the acidity or the fiber, something's not right with Hahp's digestive skillz. Slowly starving to death sure doesn't sound like any fun.
Quote #5
Tally and all of Will's roommates sat dull-eyed and sad on the benches, standing up now and then to try the stone again. They were scarecrows. It was torture for me to walk past them, make food, and walk out, knowing their eyes were following me, their mouths full of bitter saliva. I stopped eating. But after two of Franklin's classes had come and gone, it seemed stupid. My not eating wasn't helping anyone. (38.2-3)
It's bad enough to be on the brink of starvation yourself, but to see others suffering the same way, and to not be allowed to help them? That really stinks. All of the boys are in the dark about why the wizards are putting them through all this. To weed out the weak? To get them used to being complicit in hurting others? Who knows.
Quote #6
We all obeyed, like the smelly, beaten-down, well-trained animals we had become. I closed my eyes again. Tally was dead. I assumed Joseph and Rob and a boy whose name I had never learned were dead as well. Will looked half-dead—not from hunger, but from sorrow. (44.4)
Ah, survivor's guilt: a special kind of suffering. Hahp and the other boys struggle with the negative feelings that come about since they're somehow lucky enough to keep living, while other boys couldn't. Since they have no idea what the wizards' end game is, that makes it even tougher to accept that they're still alive for a reason.