Stolen Memory and the Past Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Section Break.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Then I'd remember.

I'd start with waking up, with the feel of my thick down duvet around my shoulders and the softness of flannel pajamas on my skin. If I concentrated, I could almost hear the whir and grind of Mum making her morning coffee. I smelled the bitter richness of the grains boiling on the stove, the way the aroma used to waft under the crack in the door and into my bedroom. (25.4-5)

There's something really scary about Gemma being on the other side of the world in the middle of nowhere and being struck with memories of home, almost like where she's from doesn't even seem real. She can recall the sensory details of her home, but ultimately they fade when she realizes where she really is.

Quote #5

I tried for Mum next, but even she was hard to see. I could remember her red dress, which she liked wearing to gallery openings, but I couldn't remember her face. I knew her eyes were green, like mine, and her features delicate … but somehow, I couldn't put the pieces back together.

It frightened me, this amnesia, and I hated myself for it. I felt like I wasn't worthy of being anyone's daughter. (25.6-7)

It has to be pretty horrifying to not only be kidnapped and taken from your home but then gradually realize you're forgetting the people there who meant the most to you. Gemma's guilt is probably a slight exaggeration, but it makes sense that she would blame herself for not holding onto memories hard enough.

Quote #6

I searched my memory, trying to find your face anywhere in it. There was nothing specific, but there were hazy, half-remembered things; like the man my friends saw once waiting outside the school gates, and that time in the park when I thought I saw someone watching in the bushes … the way Mum was paranoid about someone following her home. Was that you, I wondered? Had you been watching me that long? (30.46)

It seems like the more Gemma is around Ty, the more she remembers his appearances in her past. There's something scary about how she has a history with the guy who abducted her and is only gradually remembering it.