How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"You know how I feel about that," Dr. Malone says to Aurora. "I don't believe in suffering. If a kid is happy, understood, and appreciated, he will bloom in his or her own time. Paterson has been good to Marcelo. Look at the results." (1.70)
Earth to Arturo… paging Arturo! We'll be over here with the horses!
Quote #2
"Suffering and death do not affect me the way they seem to affect others." (4.34)
While this might make Marcelo sound a bit like a sociopath, to be fair, love, sex, and music don't affect him like they affect others, either.
Quote #3
"The only good thing about having him around this summer is that it's fun to see him miserable. He hates having to spend the summer here when he could be out racing yachts or something, but his father is making him do it, God only knows why." (6.122)
We'll admit it: we kind of like seeing Wendell miserable, too. After all, the dude kicks birds. Shouldn't he get his comeuppance every now and again?
Quote #4
Half of her face is intact, but the other side is missing. The skin on the deformed side is withered and scarred, as if the cheek and jaw had been carved away with a large knife. (15.40)
Or maybe a Vidromek windshield, and maybe she's just been waiting for someone like Marcelo to come along. Sure, he's an unlikely hero. But just because Marcelo doesn't totally understand human suffering, doesn't mean he can't work to relieve some of it.
Quote #5
I have been around kids that suffer at Paterson, at St. Elizabeth's. It's like I have walked among them without noticing the pain that must exist beneath their skin. Now I notice the girl in the picture and feel as if I were responsible for her pain. (16.4)
What made Marcelo more sensitive to Ixtel's suffering than other kids'? Was it the fact that she was so outwardly disfigured, or that his father was willing to allow it to happen to others?
Quote #6
One day Abba saw me looking at the portrait and she said, "That's Jesus' heart. It shows how he feels for us." Then she took the picture down and sat beside me on her bed. "The thorns are His sorrow for all that we suffer, and the flame is His love." (16.5)
When most people feel a flame in their heart, they call it heartburn, but most people aren't Jesus.
Quote #7
Is there a way to articulate what I feel? It seem like a long time passes before I speak. "I guess it would be something like, 'How do we go about living when there is so much suffering?' Does the question make sense? Is it the kind of question that is asked?" (17.70)
In a way it's charming that Marcelo is this naïve, but it's also heartbreaking. He's only just scratched the surface of human suffering. And not to be a downer or anything, but it only gets worse from here, buddy. But hey, it also gets better, too.
Quote #8
By the way, the reconstructive surgery will not only somewhat restore the girl's beauty, it will also allow her to speak clearly, chew, and alleviate the pain she feels whenever she eats or tries to speak now. (19.74)
Learning about Ixtel teaches Marcelo that there are some people who have been hurt so badly that they can't even do basic things like using their mouths without pain. It's what spurs him on to do the right thing and help her.
Quote #9
"Even now, they are still making them the same dangerous way, because if they fix the problem they would be admitting there was a problem." (19.106)
How many human behaviors are driven by exactly this logic? Addiction, untreated illness, damaged relationships; the list goes on and on. It takes an incredibly brave person to admit a problem.