Quote 73
And then I thought how I could never be an astronaut because being an astronaut meant being hundreds of thousands of miles away from home, and my home was in London now and that was about 100 miles away which was more than 1,000 times nearer than my home would be if I was in space, and thinking about this made me hurt. (179.27)
This is a pretty crushing realization. Remember above, where we discussed how Christopher's love of small spaces would allow him to float freely in outer space with no problem? Well, here he admits that there's another kind of confinement important to him – namely, staying confined to his neighborhood. And if he can't overcome that self-confinement, he'll never reach that greater freedom.
Quote 74
So I climbed onto the middle shelf and I pulled one of the cases across like a door so that I was shut in, and it was dark and there was no one in there with me and I couldn't hear people talking so I felt much calmer and it was nice. (197.47)
Christopher climbs onto the luggage rack on the train. The irony here is that by confining himself into this small space, he escapes from the policeman who's been searching for him. Result? Freedom!
Quote 75
[...] I went into the photobooth because it was like a cupboard and it felt safer and I could look out through the curtain. (211.50)
Once again, Christopher confines himself into a small space, and that makes him then feel safe. At the same time, though, it affords him the freedom to peek out through the curtain, and to watch how other people use the subway ticket machine. So, it sounds as though he benefits from finding freedom within confinement.