How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I grab the photo out of his hand. "What if I told you that from when this photo was taken until I was ten years old I didn't exist? There is no proof of my existence. I didn't even go to school, so no school records, no school friends […] Where's the proof? Where's my birth certificate? Where's my father? Where's Hannah?" (18.106, 108)
Taylor's issues of abuse and abandonment run so deep that she actually has begun to question her own existence. Given the instability of her childhood, we can't blame her. What she really wants isn't just knowledge of her family and where she comes from—it's knowledge that she's real and really matters to someone.
Quote #8
"When we lived here her name was Annie," I tell Griggs. "She used to change it all the time. She said that people were after us and she'd say, 'Your name is Tessa today.' But I'd lie in bed at night and I'd say to myself over and over again, 'My name is Taylor Markham.' I never wanted to be anyone else. She used to say that I named myself. Like she didn't care enough to name me." (22.62)
A giant part of Taylor's insecurity comes from her inability to trust her mother. Their constantly changing circumstances combined with her belief that Tate didn't care enough to name her have made Taylor feel alone and unsure of who she really is.
Quote #9
Later, she fills in the spaces between Hannah's stories and my imaginings. She tells me about the time my father had a dream about me before I was born. How we were sitting in a tree and he asked me my name and I said it was Taylor. (26.94)
Taylor may have spent most of her life believing her mom's story that she "named herself," but hearing about Webb's dream of meeting her changes all that. Really, it wasn't Tate or Taylor who named her—it was her father.