How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She saw the gleaming golden stone floor of the hall stretching away into distance; she saw the edges of rugs, like richly colored islands in a molten sea, and she saw, in the glory of sunlight—like a dreamed-of gateway to fairyland—the open front door. (7.26)
Wow—the last time we checked, the "dreamed-of gateway to fairyland" is in Disney World. Our front door looks a little more like, oh, this.
Quote #2
Oh, the warmth of the stone flags as she ran across them… the landing sunlight on her face and hand… the awful space above and around her! Pod caught her and held her at last, and patted her shoulder. "There, there…" he said, "get your breath—good girl!" (7.31)
Those exclamation points say it all. If those don't convey all kinds of awe and amazement, well then we don't know what would.
Quote #3
Panting a little, Arrietty gazed about her. She saw great chair legs rearing up into sunlight; she saw the shadowy underside of their seats spread above her like canopies; she saw […] odd tails of silk and string; she saw the terraced stairs, mounting up into the distance, up and up… (7.32)
If we were experiencing this scene, we'd probably narrate it something like this: Oh, there's another chair. Probably has gum stuck up under it. And ugh, I've gotta climb those stairs again. Arrietty, on the other hand? It's as if she's seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time.
Quote #4
Arrietty watched him move away from the step and then she looked about her. Oh, glory! Oh, joy! Oh, freedom! The sunlight, the grasses, the soft, moving air and halfway up on the bank, where it curved round the corner, a flowering cherry tree! (8.28)
Sure Arrietty might sound like she's going a bit overboard here, but remember, she's never seen these things before. Imagine you've lived underground your whole life, and you might understand the way she describes seeing sunlight, grass, and a cherry tree for the first time.
Quote #5
Arrietty was glad to see the morning room: the door luckily had been left ajar and it was fascinating to stand at last in the thick pile of carpet gazing upward at the shelves and pillars and towering gables of the famous overmantel. (12.4)
Why does Arrietty consider the overmantel to be such a big deal? She talks about it as if it's the grandest most wonderful place imaginable. We wonder if Homily would react the same way.
Quote #6
So that's where they had lived, she thought, those pleasure loving creatures, remote and gay and self-sufficient […] and they had lived only on breakfast food—[…] crispy bacon and little sips of tea and coffee. Where were they now? Arrietty wondered. Where could such creatures go? (12.4)
Where indeed? The story of the Overmantels becomes larger than life for Arrietty when she sees the place where they lived. The mystery only adds to Arrietty's awe for their home and their story.
Quote #7
She looked across the great plain of floor where, in the distance, the stairs mounted. "Another world above," she thought, "world on world…" and shivered slightly. (12.5)
See, worlds—or homes—are like Russian nesting dolls. The borrower's home is within Great-Aunt Sophy's home, which is within England, which is home in the whole wide world. Arrietty could never possibly run out of places to explore.
Quote #8
Homily screamed then. But this time it was a real scream, loud and shrill and hearty; she seemed almost to settle down in her scream, while her eyes stared up, half interested, into empty lighted space. There was another ceiling, she realized, away up above them—higher, it seemed than the sky. (15.11)
Homily is first scared, then fascinated. In fact, we have to say, her reaction is super similar to her own daughter's when she first discovers the wider world.
Quote #9
One by one Mrs. Driver picked things out—with many shocked gasps, cries of amazement, and did-you-evers. (17.29)
Oh, now here's a switch. While most of the time our small protagonists are gazing in wonder at humans' everyday objects, here's a human being awestruck by borrowers' stuff. This is a total reversal of what has come before.
Quote #10
Curious objects dangled from the tongs: "Would you believe it—her best lace handkerchiefs! Look, here's another… and another! And my big mattress needle—I knew I had one—my silver thimble, if you please, and one of hers! And look, oh my, at the wools… the cottons! No wonder you can never find a spool of white cotton if you want one." (17.29)
Mrs. Driver is finding a ton of her very own stuff in the Clocks' home. So why does it all seem so exciting and unfamiliar and unbelievable now?