How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I don't know," said Mrs. May, shaking her head, "I just don't know!" she smoothed out her work upon her knee. "He was such a tease. He told us so many things—my sister and me—impossible things." (1.31-32)
Have you ever heard the phrase "seeing is believing"? This statement fits this novel to a tee. Or, now that we think of it, in Kate's case, it just might be "hearing is believing."
Quote #2
"And yet"—she looked into the fire—"there was something about him—perhaps because we were brought up in India among mystery and magic and legends—something that made us think that he saw things that other people could not see; sometimes we'd know he was teasing, but at other times—well, we were not so sure…" (1.34)
In this book, India is a mysterious and magical place. So it's a fitting home for the boy, who's the source of this fantastical story of the borrowers. But the real question is: did the boy make up the story because he came from India? Or did the fact that he was from India just make him more able to see the all-too-real borrowers?
Quote #3
He stood a moment, as though embarrassed, and then he said: "can you fly?"
"No," said Arrietty, surprised; "can you?" (9.44-45)
The boy and Arrietty aren't sure what to make of each other because they have never seen such creatures before. So it's kind of funny that the boy's first assumption about Arrietty is that she just might be able to take to the skies. We imagine his thought process going something like this: Strange creature? Probably flies.
Quote #4
"I'm not a fairy!"
"Well, nor am I," said Arrietty, "nor is anybody. I don't believe in them" (9.46-47)
And again, these two take a shot in the magical dark. It's as if, now that they've eliminated the whole flying theory, they've got to move on to the next supernatural possibility: fairies.
Quote #5
"My mother believes in them," she said, trying to appease him. "She thinks she saw one once. It was when she was a girl and lived with her parents behind the sand pile in the potting shed […] about the size of a glowworm with wings like a butterfly. And it had a tiny little face, she said, all alight and moving like sparks and tiny moving hands. Its face was changing all the time, she said, smiling and sort of shimmering. It seemed to be talking, she said, very quickly—but you couldn't hear a word…" (9.51,53)
Why do you think Arrietty tells the story of her mother seeing the fairy in such detail? And here's another question: was this really a fairy at all? Not to rain on anyone's parade, or anything, but maybe it was just a lightning bug.
Quote #6
"Oh," said the boy, interested. After a moment he asked: "where did it go?"
"It just went," said Arrietty. "When my mother saw it, it seemed to be caught in a cobweb. It was dark at the time. About five o'clock on a winter's evening. After tea." (9.54-55)
Well of course Homily believes in fairies. She saw one as a wee little kiddo, and kiddos often believe the impossible. She just manages to carry that belief with her into adulthood.
Quote #7
"She thinks my father comes out of the decanter," said Arrietty, "and one day when I'm older he's going to take me there and She'll think I've come up with the decanter too […] once he took my mother, and She perked up like anything and kept asking after her and why didn't she come anymore and saying they watered the Madeira because once, she says, she saw a little man and a little woman and now she only sees a little man…" (10.1)
Great-Aunt Sophy believes what she sees, but she also thinks they are hallucinations from drinking. So she believes in the borrowers, but she also knows they're not real at the same time. How does that work?
Quote #8
"I saw them, I tell you," gasped Mrs. Driver, "little people like with hands—or mice dressed up…"
Crampfurl stared into the hole. "Mice dressed up?" He repeated uncertainly.
"Hundreds of them," went on Mrs. Driver, "running and squeaking. I saw them, I tell you!" (17.10-12)
Would you believe someone who says she saw hundreds of mice dressed up? Probably… not. And Crampfurl here seems disbelieving, but not dismissive. Maybe he's not such a grump after all.
Quote #9
"Keep the bottle corked," she managed at last and motioned them weakly away. They heard her laughing still as they went on down the stairs.
"She don't believe in them," muttered Mrs. Driver, and she tightened her grip on my brother's arm. "More fool her! She'll change her tune, like enough, when I take them up afterwards, laid out in sizes, on a clean piece of newspaper…" (19.47-48)
Do you think Great-Aunt Sophy is right about Mrs. Driver—that she saw things because she had taken too much of her mistress's Madeira? Could the boy be making all this up?
Quote #10
Kate sat silent, staring at Mrs. May. After a while she drew a long breath. "Then that proves it," she said finally, "underground chamber and all."
"Not quite," said Mrs. May.
"Why not?" asked Kate.
"Arrietty used to make her 'e's' like little half-moons with a stroke in the middle --"
"Well?" said Kate.
Mrs. May laughed and took up her work again. "My brother did too," she said. (20.63-68)
So, what do you think? Are the borrowers real characters, or did Mrs. May's brother invent them in feverish hallucinations when he had rheumatic fever? Or did he invent them on purpose to tell his sisters a story? Would that ruin everything, or cast the story in a whole new light?