How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I wish I could talk to my mother about things like this because I don't really believe a lot of the kids know what they're talking about, at least I can't believe all the stuff they tell me. (17.1)
This won't be the first time we hear Alice wishing she could talk to her mother. The thing is, though, on which end is their communication failing? Has she approached her mom with this stuff and gotten shut down? Or has she not even tried?
Quote #2
Boy, Mom would be proud of my thinking and attitude today. It's just too bad we can't communicate anymore. I remember being able to talk to her when I was little but it's as though we speak a different language now and the meanings just don't come across the right way. She means something and I take it another way or she says something and I think she's trying to correct me or "uplift" me or preach at me and I really suspect she isn't doing that at all, just groping and being as lost with words as am I. That's life, I guess. (32.2)
Quote #3
Oh, I'm so horribly, nauseously mixed up and—what if I'm pregnant? Oh, how I wish I had someone, anyone, to talk with who knows what they're talking about. (53.5)
How different would this book be if it were written in the age of the Internet? So many of her existential dilemmas could've been solved by Google…
Quote #4
It seems like I've been held down for so long, maybe it's the sleeping pills and the tranquilizers, but there are moments when I'd really like to just burst loose, but I guess those days are gone forever! I'm really confused! I wish I had someone to talk to! (66.1)
Alice really needs a friend or a mentor, pronto. She's always so confused and needs advice, but feels like there is no one she can turn to, which is pretty sad. However, would having a confidant have stopped her from doing all the self-harming she does?
Quote #5
They hate my hair, which they still want me to wear in a flip like the kiddies, and they talked and talked and talked, but never once did they even hear one thing I was trying to say to them. In fact at the beginning, when they were telling me about their deep concern, I had the overwhelming desire to break down and tell them everything. I wanted to tell them! I wanted more than anything in the world to know that they understood, but naturally they just kept on talking and talking because they are incapable of really understanding anything. […] They simply won't or can't or don't want to listen, and we kids keep winding up back in the same old frustrating, lost, lonely corner with no one to relate to either verbally or physically. (69.1)
It takes two to tango, and Alice is a terrible dance partner. Her parents try to express a serious concern, but Alice is so consumed with her own thought process that she doesn't listen at all… and then accuses them of doing the same thing to her. Communication has to go both ways, and we're watching it fail colossally, which just exacerbates Alice's feelings of isolation.
Quote #6
It's a wonderful and exciting and beautiful city, but I really wish I were home. Of course I couldn't tell Chris that. (88.1)
Doesn't it get frustrating? Why can't she tell Chris that she's homesick? What would be so bad about admitting a perfectly normal feeling? It's stuff like this that makes Alice feel so alone—but if she ever reached out, she'd discover that Chris is feeling the same way.
Quote #7
A raindrop just splashed on my forehead and it was like a tear from heaven. Are the clouds and the skies really weeping over me? Am I really alone in the whole wide gray world? (167)
We know this is just a colossal pity party for one, and that Alice's questions are melodramatic hypotheticals, but she probably does feel pretty lonely.
Quote #8
Oh, what am I going to do? I need someone to talk to. I really and truly and desperately do. Oh God, please help me. I'm so scared and so cold and so alone. I have only you, Diary. You and me, what a pair. (178.7)
It's interesting that Alice feels comfortable going to a church to find help, but then doesn't take it the next step further and talk to a priest. You would think that her impulse to turn toward religion would lead her to that conclusion, but it doesn't.
Quote #9
It's terrible not to have a friend. I'm so lonely and so alone. I think it's worse on weekends than during the week, but I don't know. It's pretty bad all the time. (187.1)
We're including this quote just to make sure you really understand just how lonely and isolated Alice feels. Got it? Good.