Stitches: A Memoir Suffering Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

Then, as I slowly regained strength, one evening I decided to change the bandage on my neck by myself […] and I saw for the first time what they had done. (3.115-118)

Not only can David no longer speak, he has a huge scar that will further separate him from other people. He has not one, but two physical differences now, meaning there are two things that were inexcusable for his parents not to tell him.

Quote #8

A scientist takes an experimental drug that gives him X-ray vision. Driven mad by what he sees, he goes into the desert and tears out his own eyes. (3.212)

David, too, was driven mad by X-rays. He, too, was damaged by an experimental procedure that he thought would cure him, but which nearly killed him. The scientist lost his vision; David lost his voice.

Quote #9

I was scared to go up to bed, afraid that the screaming in my head would be heard by the family. (3.216)

Under extreme stress and deceit, David starts to lose it. We begin to wonder if his fantasies are actually delusions—for example, does he really see his therapist as the White Rabbit? It adds a level of tension to the story that wasn't there before (just in case it wasn't already tense enough.)