How we cite our quotes:
Quote #1
[...] I knew that it meant "happy," like when I'm reading about the Apollo space missions, or when I am still awake at three or four in the morning and I can walk up and down the street and pretend that I am the only person in the world. (3.3)
This doesn't sound so unreasonable, fantasizing about being the only person left on the planet. But what's left unsaid is how unconcerned Christopher would be about the disappearance of everyone he knows, and how utterly incapable he is of stepping outside himself.
Quote #2
It was nice in the police cell. (23.8)
This might be the first time in human history these words have been written. But what's behind Christopher's warm and fuzzy feelings about the place? Well, it's a combination of a few things Christopher values, including being alone, being in an enclosed space, and being in a familiar situation (at least, familiar from TV).
Quote #3
I stepped outside. Father was standing in the corridor. He held up his right hand and spread his fingers out in a fan. I held up my left hand and spread my fingers out in a fan and we made our fingers and thumbs touch each other. We do this because sometimes Father wants to give me a hug, but I do not like hugging people, so we do this instead, and it means that he loves me. (31.5)
It seems noteworthy that this scene – the first time we read about the "hand-hugging" – occurs in a sterile, empty prison corridor. Prison, of course, has got to be one of the loneliest places there is. The corridor outside the cell allows for some interaction, but there really isn't any place for warmth. So in this setting, does this greeting become more like an embrace, or does it make it seem that much colder?
Quote #4
Then, when I've got a degree in Maths, or Physics, or Maths and Physics, I will be able to get a job and earn lots of money and I will be able to pay someone who can look after me and cook my meals and wash my clothes, or I will get a lady to marry me and be my wife and she can look after me so I can have company and not be on my own. (71.8)
We might find this last line a little surprising, since Christopher seems to prefer being alone whenever he possibly can. But look – he practically equates hiring a live-in maid with getting a wife! This makes it pretty clear that he really has no interest living with anyone, but knows he's incapable of living alone.
Quote #5
These are some of my Behavioural Problems
A. Not talking to people for a long time [...]
K. Not noticing that people are angry with me. (73.2)
These two things illustrate "isolation" in very different ways. The former suggests a disinterest in other people, while the latter implies a disregard for others.
Quote #6
Sometimes when I want to be on my own I get into the airing cupboard in the bathroom and slide in beside the boiler and pull the door behind me and sit there and think for hours and it makes me feel very calm. (83.2)
Why do you think it's easier for Christopher to think when he's physically isolated?
Quote #7
[...] I didn't speak to anyone and for the whole afternoon I sat in the corner of the Library groaning with my head pressed into the join between the two walls and this made me feel calm and safe. (89.14)
This is during one of Christopher's Black Days. We're just going to ask this again – what is it that makes him feel so unsafe? We're not sure there's any easy answer, but it's worth thinking about. Again.
Quote #8
Which means that a murder victim is usually killed by someone known to them and fairies are made out of paper and you can't talk to someone who is dead. (139.10)
In that last clause, about how you can't talk to someone who's dead, Christopher is certainly writing about his mother, and feeling really separate from her. But in dismissing the existence of fairies, he's denying us the possibility of connecting to the mystical, magical sides of the world, and of ourselves. The only connection between beings he does allow is a dangerous one, and one that causes great harm: the relationship between murderer and victim. Eek.
Quote #9
I sat on the bed for a long time looking at the floor. Then I heard Toby scratching in his cage. I looked up and saw him staring through the bars at me. (167.29)
Here's another powerful image, as the rat's physical isolation in the cage parallels Christopher's emotional isolation. We might even compare Toby's scratching to Christopher's uneasy processing of his realization about his mother being alive. Deep.
Quote #10
And that made me think that there must be millions of miles of train track in the world and they all go past houses and roads and rivers and fields, and that made me think how many people must be in the world and they all have houses and roads to travel on and cars and pets and clothes and they all eat lunch and go to bed and have names and this made my head hurt, too, so I closed my eyes again and did counting and groaning. (197.34)
This image – of Christopher sitting on a train, watching the towns fly by from behind glass – really shows us how separated he is from what we consider "normal" modern life. It's important to recognize that the life he describes is essentially his own, but the thought that millions of other people are living similar lives is simply overwhelming.