How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Whatever it was, I was convinced that this ride was where you went to die. I would be separated from my family forever and end up in some part of the underworld where smiling kid robots in boater hats sang nonstop in Portuguese. I had to keep that from happening. (1.21)
Cam is, in our humble opinion, describing some level of Hell even Dante was too afraid to mention. No wonder he was so desperate that he jumped into that muck Disney calls "water" in order to flee through a maintenance door. Wouldn't you?
Quote #2
"'Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.' Emily Dickinson. Why must we die when everything within us yearns to live? Do our atoms not dream of more?" (10.57)
Even though he's pretty creepy, Dr. X has a poetic point. Why do we have to die? What if mortality was an avoidable fate, and we could find a way to go on forever? If you thought you could, wouldn't you try?
Quote #3
It's like the information is a big wave rushing over me, and I can only grab at certain words and phrases to hold me up. "Progressive muscle weakness," "uneven gait," "dementia and delusions," "four to six months," "hospital," "experimental treatments." I don't hear anybody mention it's going to kill me. Probably because no one actually comes right out and says it. In fact, Dr. Specialist does everything he can not to say it. And that's when I know I must be in some deep s***. (11.56)
It's never good when you have Dr. Specialist-types flummoxed. They're supposed to be the guys with all the answers, right? The smooth ones with easy bedside manners. So when Cam's doc starts dancing around what's happening to him, Cam is right to assume it doesn't look good for him. And despite the tidal wave of bad news, Cam doesn't drown in it. In fact, he's pretty calm considering the situation, don't you think? Why do you think that is?
Quote #4
What happens to us when we die: an informal poll.
Theory #1: The Christians are right. There's a big guy with a white robe and a long, flowing beard and a devil with a pitchfork, and depending on whether you've been bad or good (oh, be good, for goodness' sake!), you'll wind up playing a harp with the angels or burning in the everlasting fires of hell, both of which sound sucktastic.
Theory #2: The Jews are right, and when you die there's nothing, so you better have gotten plenty to eat in this life.
Theory #3: The Muslims are right, and I am in for some serious black-eyed virgin time. Then again, I've got black eyes and am a virgin, so I may be in for some serious trouble once I kick.
Theory #4: The Buddhists and Hindus are right. This life is one of many. You just go on working through your karmic baggage till you get it right. So be nice to that cockroach. That could be you someday.
Theory #5: The UFO crazies are right, and we are all one big experiment for a race of superaliens who like to sit around in the alien equivalent of the Barcalounger, sipping a brew and watching those wacky humans get up to the nuttiest sorts of hijinks. And when we buy the farm, they swoop down in the mother ship and take us back to Planet Z and the primordial ooze.
Theory #6: Nobody knows s***. (12.1-7)
It's not uncommon to start looking for answers about the afterlife when you find out you're going to die. (Or die sooner than you thought, anyway.) So Cam gets drawn into an Internet time-suck, and even after all his reading, he's unsatisfied with what the world's major religions think about death and dying. If you were a sixteen-year-old who just found out you were going to die, how would you feel about these answers?
Quote #5
For a long time, I thought it would be cool to die young. Honestly, things weren't going so well in the life department. Death seemed infinitely more glamorous and, you know, kind of hard to f*** up. (12.13)
Cam's never one to pick the road less traveled. He likes to do things the easy way, and for many, death seems easy. It happens to people accidentally all the time, so how hard can it be, right? But now that he's facing death down at high noon in the town square it's a lot harder than he thought to say goodbye to everything that he knows.
Quote #6
"This is not how I'm supposed to die."
"So how are you supposed to die?"
Her eyes take on a faraway sheen. "In a house by the sea in an upstairs bedroom. It's late spring, and the open window lets in the smell of lily of the valley. And there's a garden outside. It's decorated with paper lanterns, and the children, the children chase after fireflies while their parents laugh and talk as if they have all the time in the world. In a house by the sea, it will end, and I will slip from this life as if it were no more than a sweater grown too large and threadbare with years, something no longer needed. That is how it should be. Not here. Never here." She fixes me with her gaze. "I don't think you should die before you're ready. Until you've wrung out every last bit of living you can." (13.76-78)
Obviously this lady has put some thought into how she's supposed to go. After all, she's had the time; she's like, ancient. But it's a very romanticized version of death, don't you think? It's all flowers and laughing children and the distant sound of the sea. Maybe Cam, with his bitter acceptance of his fate, has a more realistic outlook.
Quote #7
"What does that mean?" I say, getting pissed off. "Did you have parents? A dog? A parakeet? A Social Security number? Can you remember? How do you feel? Is there a God? What happens when we die? Will I be like you, spray-painting my wings with misspelled messages and guiding people on stupid, insane missions? (22.26)
We're with Cameron on this one: Sometimes Dulcie's vague answers can be pretty irritating. Would she just give it to him straight, for once? Geez. It's kind of unfair that she won't give Cam any answers about the afterlife. But then again, she's a manifestation of his conscience… so since Cam doesn't know what happens, it doesn't seem possible for Dulcie to either.
Quote #8
Do I ever think about [dying]? What does he want to hear? That lately I think about how my mom's face looks when she's drinking her coffee in the morning, staring at her crossword puzzle like she just might beat it today. I think about driving with my dad to the lake the day before he and Mom bought the new house when I was eleven, him singing along to the radio and looking like all he wanted to do was keep driving and singing. I think about the Jenna who made me a Christmas ornament out of macaroni when she was six, and the current Jenna, Jenna of the dance team, Jenna who can't stand me, Jenna who will miss me when I'm gone, even if it's just because I'm not there to make her look so much better to the world. I think about the fact that I will probably never bone Staci Johnson and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. I think about dying every day, because I can't stop thinking about the living. (27.53)
Gonzo kind of sticks his foot in his mouth when he asks Cam if he ever thinks about dying. In short, uh, yeah, dude…
Quote #9
Maybe if I had more time, I could've shrugged it off and said, hey, pal, better lay next time. But this was pretty much my one shot, and I blew it. It's not just the sex, though. It's the whole damn unfairness of it all. Like I'm just starting to understand how amazing this whole crazy ride is going to be and now it's coming to an end. (43.100)
As he's getting closer to the end, Cameron is starting to realize everything he's missed out on by being such a grumpy misanthrope. Isn't that just typical, though? Why couldn't he have learned all these life lessons without having to die at the end? Or is it the fact that he's dying that he makes him able to see all that life can offer?