How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
It looks as it has likewise looked for ages, as if it is ready to quit this life and tumble in. Right now though it is hosting the most lifelike event it has seen in quite some time. (336)
A little foreshadowing is good for the soul. Will is looking at the willow tree, half in half out of the water, and curiously equates the death of the girl nearby with a "lifelike event." Life does transform into death, though, we supposed.
Quote #2
Something comes out of you now. Unusual. Unheard of. It frightens you […] It comes out of you, somewhere in the diaphragm region and sounds as foreign to your ear as Mandarin Chinese. (442)
Will doesn’t recognize his response here. Though he doesn't realize it yet, this may be a moment in which he's starting to change.
Quote #3
Listen to this voice, Will. The one that owes you the truth. The one that will not go away until it is achieved. (944)
With so much mess swirling around in his brain, here Will tries to identify a voice inside his head that can guide him toward the truth.
Quote #4
Clean is good. You love that feeling. Make a note William, to remember you love that feeling of clean even when getting into the shower seems like too much work. (729)
This isn't just any old shower, Shmoopers—it's the shower that brings Will back to the land of the living after three solid days of wallowing in depression. Some transformations are epic, but some take place in more mundane manifestations. You know, like basic self-care.
Quote #5
All it took was for Angela to walk in and tell you you stink for the world to spin right again. (731)
That transformative shower? Yeah, Angela gets part of the credit for it happening.
Quote #6
You are not walking but swimming out the front door of the house. Like you are being taught to scuba dive. (744)
Will emerges after his shower ready to take on the world. Notice the water imagery again. Everything important seems to have something to do with getting wet. For more on this, check out the "Symbols" section.
Quote #7
You are seeing, that much is certain.
Certainty. It is the opposite of faith isn't it? Which would you rather have now? (1058-1059)
Will seems to be in the process of changing from the guy who doesn't think you can really know anything to the guy who might be interested in having a little certainty.
Quote #8
Nothing has to be, Will. It is up to you. (1064)
Wait, what? Has someone sprinkled a little fairy dust of optimism on Will? Is he starting to believe in the power of choice, and that his life is not doomed? We feel a transformation happening…
Quote #9
What they did they did. What your father did or didn't do he did or didn't do. Their choices. Your choices. (1136)
Will is starting to understand that he can't keep connecting himself to his father's mistakes. Freewill means we all have ability to make good or bad choices—and it also means we have to accept others' as theirs, and tend to our own. It's a radical shift from where Will began.