1)“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls.
“Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.
I chose this phrase because I think it emboides the whole book. I don't think most people that aren't teenage girls fully understand how big of an issue wieght and apperance is in a young teens world. How teens will do anything to look good, which is why annorexia is not uncommon amoung youg girls. I just don't understand how girls can belittle themselves so much to get to the point where they don't even eat. I can't even image myself in those shoes.
2)Eating was hard. Breathing was hard. Living was hardest
I feel like this sentence says a lot. I think there comes to a point where you can only ignore a problem before it all starts to unfold. Its kind of like a recovered addict after one little cheat you're back to where you started and helpless. And how to you even begin to live your life normally when you know you have a serious problem that you try to hide.
3)I breathe in slowly. Food is life. I exhale, take another breath. Food is life. And that's the problem. When you're alive, people can hurt you. It's easier to crawl into a bone cage or a snowdrift of confusion. It's easier to lock everybody out.
But it's a lie.
I feel like this passages shows that the main character Lia is afraid of life and all it has to offer so instead she chooses death on the skinny side.
4)There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward; an easier day, an unexpected laugh, a mirror that doesn't matter anymore.
I think Lia means that she is waiting for the day where she is carefree and she doesn't have to be unsatisfied with what she sees in the mirror. She wants to see the day where she can get up look in the mirror and love herself for every freckle and flaw.
5)"The ghosts want to taste me. Their hands shake out, fingers open wide."
Im pretty sure this mean that lia's annorexia wants to take over her life, and she can feel it slowly bit by bit taking over.
6)I keep thinking that if I could just unzip my skin, step out of this body, then I would see who I really am.
This quotes meanst that when lia looks at herself all she sees is skin and bones. Nothing more.
7) "I need to run, to fly, beating my wings so hard I can't hear anything over the pounding of my heart. Rain, rain, rain, drowning me."
I feel like this quote is basically like lia standing crowded room screaming at the top of her lungs but nobody seems to notice. all she wants to do is act out make a scene but she can't even work the nerve.
8)Yesterdays dirt and mistakes have moved through me. I am shiny and pink inside, clean. Empty is good. Empty is strong."
I think here lia is trying to talk herself into thinking that the past doesnt matter, and she's really strong when at the moment shes really not.
9)"There is grease on the stove, blood in the air, and angry words piled in the corners."
I feel like this quote shows signifacance to the quote "theres a elephant in the room" like the people close to her knows she has a problem but its not disscussed its goes through thier minds but not a word is said.
10)"We haunt ourselves, and sometimes we do such a good job, we lose track of reality."
I think quote really means we are our biggest critic and enemy and we can talk ourselves in and out of anything, things that somtimes aren't even really what we make them to be.
Excellent post. I really was struck by reading those quotes out of context. Laurie Halse Anderson really is a very poetic writer. The book is scary, isn't it?
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