How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"And I am not concerned. But I am curious. Why do you resist an explanation that makes far more sense than your own? Really, Pellinore, would you care to compute the odds of them migrating here, to your own backyard, by sheer chance? In the back of your mind you must know the truth, but refuse to acknowledge it. Why? Because you cannot bring yourself to think the worst of him? Who was he to you? More important, who were you to him? You defend a man who barely tolerated your existence." His boyish face lit up. "Ah! Is that it? Are you still trying to prove yourself worthy of his love—even now, when it's impossible for him to give it? And you call yourself a scientist! (10.178)
As mean as he is about it, Dr. Kearns has seen the truth behind Dr. Warthrop's inability to accept the origins of the Anthropophagi in New Jerusalem. Poor doc; deep down inside he is still the lonely little boy craving attention and validation from his emotionally distant father. Parents can really do a number on their kids.
Quote #8
A child has little defense against the sight of a parent laid low. Parents, like the earth beneath our feet and the sun above our heads, are immutable objects, eternal and reliable. If one should fall, who might vouch the sun itself won't fall, burning, into the sea? (11.299)
You almost have to believe that your parents are immutable objects because to contemplate otherwise would be to question everything you depend on as a child. So when Will Henry watches his father ailing, and then dying in a horrific manner, he suffers from a crisis of identity. If his parents can die like that, who's next?
Quote #9
The doctor ignored the question. "The door is locked."
"A good sign," Kearns said, "but a bad circumstance. I don't suppose your father bequeathed you the key to it."
"My father willed me many things," replied the doctor darkly. (12.59-61)
To what is Dr. Warthrop referring, do you think? His never-ending quest to pursue the things that go bump in the night? His cycle of mania and depression that consumes him alternately to the point of exhaustion? Their seemingly endless wealth and a gloomy house? Male pattern baldness?