How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Colin took a deep breath and slid down, immersing his head. I am crying, he thought, opening his eyes to stare through the soapy, stinging water. I feel like crying, so I must be crying, but it's impossible to tell because I'm underwater. But he wasn't crying. Curiously, he felt too depressed to cry. Too hurt. It felt as if she'd taken the part of him that cried. (1.8)
Let's start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start): Colin is not happy after K-19 dumps him. Okay, we get that. There's something else in this passage we're not quite sure we understand though—he doesn't even know if he's crying. Is this because he's so mopey about life in general that he's lost sight of his own emotions?
Quote #2
"Think of all you could do this summer, Colin. You could learn Sanskrit," said his dad. "I know how you've been wanting to learn Sanskrit. "Will you really be happy just driving around aimlessly? That doesn't seem like you. Frankly, it seems like quitting." (3.4)
It's funny that his dad asks whether Colin will be happy right after he hears about the road trip. He might be asking if Colin's happy, but really, his dad is more concerned about his life path and what he will achieve. It's up to Colin to sort out which life path will actually make him happy.
Quote #3
Mrs. Harbish shook her head and pursed her lips. "Don't I tell you," she said in accented English, "not to mess with girls? Hassan is a good boy, doesn't do this 'dating.' And look how happy he is. You should learn from him." (3.15)
In a lot of ways, Hassan's mom is right—Colin would be much happier if he didn't mess around with the Katherines. He couldn't whine about them dumping him then. On the other hand, we're not sure Hassan really qualifies as the best sample of happiness; he even admits later on that he's lazy and should do something else with his life.
Quote #4
"Oh my God, Colin. Please. We graduated. We're happy. Celebrate!"
"What, are you afraid to say it?"
"I love you." She would never—not ever—tell him those words in that order ever again. (5.87-89)
Hooray? In one of Colin's memories, he and Katherine go out to celebrate their graduation. They've just hit a huge milestone, but are they happy?
Quote #5
He sketched: Where x = time, and y = happiness, y = 0 beginning of relationship and breakup, y negative = breakup by m, and y positive = breakup by f: my relationship with K-19. (6.4)
It's a wonky idea to begin with: create a math formula that can chart (or even predict) a relationship. But it gets even wonkier when Colin uses happiness as one of the factors. How can happiness be measured? Are you 7 out of 10 on the scale of happiness, or a 6? How can anyone possibly put a number on an emotion?
Quote #6
Talk to your mother," he said, which is what his dad always said. After a few moments (Colin could just see them talking while his dad held his hand over the receiver), his mom picked up.
"Well, are you happy?"
"I wouldn't go that far. "
"Happier?" his mom tried.
"Marginally," he allowed. "I'm not lying facedown on the carpet." (9.82-86)
When Colin first gets to Hollis's place, he has this little convo with his mom. Again, one of his parents wants to know if he's happy, but the answer is still not a resounding yes. He's getting there, though. So what's changed between the beginning (where he was crying in the bathtub) and now?
Quote #7
He's going to work in that factory his whole life, and he's going to have the same friends, and he's really happy with that, and he thinks it matters. (14.54)
What makes you happy? For TOC, it's the same old, same old—he's happy to live in a small town and work in the same place for his whole life. For Colin, he wants to matter; and for Lindsey, she's not quite sure. The truth is, it takes different things to make people happy, and even then these things can change.
Quote #8
"I only registered for two classes in the fall, so don't start creaming yourself. I've got to ease my way into it. Don't tell me how fugging happy you are. I know. (17.71)
Colin has been waiting for Hassan to register for college since we first met the guy, so when it finally happens, we know Colin's over the moon, but Hassan doesn't want to hear it. Why? We're betting Hassan wants to experience it for himself, and that he doesn't want Colin's emotions dictating his life.
Quote #9
"That's how I remember things, anyway. I remember stories. I connect the dots and then out of that comes a story. And the dots that don't fit into the story just slide away, maybe. Like when you spot a constellation. You look up and you don't see all the stars. All the stars just look like the big fugging random mess that they are. But you want to see shapes; you want to see stories, so you pick them out of the sky. Hassan told me once you think like that, too—that you see connections everywhere—so you're a natural born storyteller, it turns out." (19.91)
This is how Lindsey gets happy: she makes connections and tells stories to people. We like the way she connects it to what's going on with Colin—they're in the same boat, really, they just steer it to different places. Lindsey feels happiness in the hidden links between things in life, while Colin tries to find those links in books and langauges.
Quote #10
Colin wanted to be all-the-way happy, he really did—because ever since he saw the steepness of the curve with Lindsey, he'd been hoping that it'd be wrong. But as he sat there on the bed, the note in his still-shaky hands, he couldn't help but feel that he would never be a genius. For as much as he believed Lindsey that what matters to you defines your mattering, he still wanted the Theorem to work, still wanted to be as special as everyone had always told him he was. (epil.14)
When all is said and done, is Colin happy? We think he finally wants to be, but he's not sure how to actually get there. His theorem doesn't work, his life philosophy is down the drain, and he isn't either of the two things (prodigy, dumpee) he thought he was. That bites.