How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"He's worked his whole life to deny the old stories about gods and spirits, yet he fears those stories might be real. He fears that he's shut off an important part of himself, and someday it will destroy him. Now he's been captured by a giant. He's living a nightmare. Even if he survives…if he has to spend the rest of his life with those memories, knowing that gods and spirits walk the earth, it will shatter him." (39.46)
Tristan has worked his whole life to deny the stories from his Cherokee heritage. The version of reality he's afraid of, in some sense, is that these stories are real, and that assimilating to white culture and being successful in Hollywood has made him lose touch with this important part of who he is. What stories do you distance yourself from?
Quote #8
He wished this were a Tristan McLean movie. Then Piper's dad would be faking unconsciousness. He'd untie his bonds and knock out the giant with some cleverly hidden anti-giant gas. Heroic music would start to play, and Tristan McLean would make his amazing escape, running away in slow motion while the mountainside exploded behind him. (41.50)
Leo is wishing he were in a movie—but he is in a movie. Or, sort of—he's in a fantasy-adventure book, which is pretty close, complete with an amazing escape, explosions, and superpowers. Leo is wishing for a version of reality that he doesn't yet know he's living.
Quote #9
"Monsters," her Dad said, a tear tracing his cheek. "I live in a world of monsters." (45.40)
Tristan really needed to get into another book, the kind where the strapping adventurer is the hero. In this book's reality, though, kids are the heroes and adults always have to be rescued. Drinking the potion to wipe his memory is a way of forgetting which book he's in, and getting back into a more comfortable reality.