How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
We got in the car, and I sat in the front seat. Mom's seat, I thought, and closed my eyes. (2.13)
Dynamics in the Byron family change dramatically after the death of Christine. Ben sits in the front seat now, which means he has a new role and responsibilities.
Quote #2
"Everybody I've talked to thinks it's a great idea."
"But you haven't talked to everybody," I said.
"Who else?" Dad asked.
"Us," I said. "You haven't talked to us." (3.46-3.49)
In the first weeks and months after his wife's funeral, Jim Byron is super-selfish. He puts his own needs over the needs of his children.
Quote #3
The movers were emptying the family room bookshelves into boxes marked FAM RM. […] It was as if they had stuck a giant vacuum hose to our front door and everything we lived with every day was getting sucked out. (5.20)
Ben and his brothers are dealing with a lot of upheaval in their lives. They have to leave their family home super-quickly after their mom dies…which isn't great for the grieving process.
Quote #4
I told Gerry about when Dylan and I were very small and Dad let us put his trolling motor on my baby sailboat and go puttering around the cove. I got so excited about a fish hat I forgot to steer, and we ran the boat right into the shore. Dad didn't even get mad. (10.8)
The sad thing about this story is that Gerry doesn't believe it. He finds it impossible to believe there was ever a time that his dad wouldn't have gotten mad about something like that.
Quote #5
I realized then that I was standing there waiting for Mom to come—for her to step in and change everything. I was waiting, but she would never come. (11.47)
It sounds like Christine Byron was the peacemaker in her family. Ben's not much of a peacemaker, so he just gets in a fight with his dad instead.
Quote #6
"I knew you'd come back," he said.
"How could you know that?"
"You're our brother," he said. "You'd never leave us." (15.71-15.73)
Feel the brotherly love, y'all.
Quote #7
"I'm rested now. We're running low on water and food. We've been here three weeks. It's time to go, don't you think?" (16.14)
After he's injured, Jim Byron starts consulting with his children more instead of just ordering them around.
Quote #8
Gerry reached out for Dylan's hand and Dylan took it. They didn't look at each other. It was just electricity, I guess. I remember Mom doing that. (18.31)
Even though, in some ways, The Great Wide Sea is a portrait of a broken family, there's always a sense that the bonds in the Byron clan are strong.
Quote #9
"Why did you do it?"
"Because you're my brother," he said, and waited quietly to help me furl the sail. (35.35-35.36)
Little Gerry shows a lot of courage when he jumps in the water to save his brother from a shark. He can barely swim.
Quote #10
In the morning I would be able to go because I loved them and I had no other choice. "I love you," I said to their sleeping heads. "I love you. I need you. I couldn't leave you if it wasn't so." (38.117)
When Ben leaves the island to go find help, he has to overcome his strong instinct to stay and protect his brothers. He wins out, but just barely.