These things, she felt, were not to be passed around like disingenuous party favors. She kept an honor code with her journals and her poems. 'Inside, inside,' she would whisper quietly to herself when she felt the urge to tell.
Alice SeboldRead
And there she was, alone and walking out in the cornfield while everyone else I cared for sat together in one room. She would always feel me and think of me. I could see that, but there was no longer anything I could do. Ruth had been a girl haunted and now she would be a woman haunted. First by accident and now by choice. All of it, the story of my life and death, was hers if she chose tot ell it, even to one person at a time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the profound connection and pain of isolation within relationships, highlighting a personal journey of love and loss.
In this quote, Alice Sebold chronicles a poignant moment of solitude where one individual is physically apart from loved ones yet intrinsically linked through emotional memory. It speaks to the complexities of relationships, the haunting nature of personal experiences, and the ways in which one's story can deeply resonate with another, even in silence. The notion of choice in sharing one's narrative is also emphasized, suggesting that the bonds we form are sometimes akin to burdens that shape our identities.
Themes
IsolationLoveLossConnectionHauntingMemory
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a reflection on the complexities of love and isolation at a book club.
More from Alice Sebold
All quotes →After telling the hard facts to anyone from lover to friend, I have changed in their eyes. Often it is awe or admiration, sometimes it is repulsion, once or twice it has been fury hurled directly at me for reasons I remain unsure of.
Alice SeboldRead
The stains could be seen only in the sunlight, so Ruth was never really aware of them until later, when she would stop at an outdoor cafe for a cup of coffee, and look down at her skirt and see the dark traces of spilled vodka or whiskey. The alcohol had the effect of making the black cloth blacker. This amused her; she had noted in her journal: 'booze affects material as it does people'.
Alice SeboldRead
Murderers are not monsters, they're men. And that's the most frightening thing about them.
Alice SeboldRead
As she stood in the darkened room and watched my sister and father, I knew one of things that heaven meant. I had a choice, and it was not to divide my family in my heart.
Alice SeboldRead
She liked to imagine that when she passed the world looked after her, but she also knew how anonymous she was.
Alice SeboldRead
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