How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
For the first time I could recall, I was alone. (2.3)
Gulp. Do you remember the first time you were ever alone? And come to think of it, is Abilene talking about being alone physically or emotionally? Either way, we'd say that her time alone helps her grow up. (Though we'd probably recommend some parental supervision along the way.)
Quote #2
I'd been in and out of schools before, but I'd always been in the protective shade of my daddy. Here I was alone and exposed to the heat and clamor of the day. (4.10)
Abilene's dad couldn't go with her to school, even if he was in the same town—but it's different this time. Knowing that her dad isn't around totally changes the way she feels. It's like everything is a little less safe.
Quote #3
Maybe it was a lonely immigrant with no family. Or it could be a drifter who had come through town and they'd buried him where he dropped dead. (15.1)
What do you think about the tradition of burying family members next to each other? Why do you think this is important to many people?
Quote #4
"To see Ned get on the train and leave Manifest and the people who love him. Jinx thinks it is his fault." (18.23)
Jinx is convinced that he's the reason Ned has joined the army. Why? Because he helped Ned make the money he used to get in. This act leaves both Ned and Jinx feeling alone: Ned voluntarily and Jinx because his best friend is heading off. As it turns out, for good.
Quote #5
"Isn't that what people do when things get tough? They move on to the next town and leave all their troubles behind? And everyone they care about?" (18.27)
Hmmm. Is that what you do when you have a bad day? If so, we sure hope you keep a suitcase handy. Why do you think Gideon keeps running from the bad stuff in life? What does the continuous isolation provide for him?
Quote #6
I kept my eyes closed, trying to recall the sound and movement of train on track that could make you feel lonely sometimes and peaceful at others. (20.35)
Did that sound ever make Abilene feel lonely before her dad sent her away? Does it ever make her feel peaceful now?
Quote #7
Even in church, folks kept to their own. Among the Catholics, the Austrians went to Mass at eight o'clock, Italians at nine o'clock, and Irish at ten o'clock. Services were divided up similarly among the Lutherans and Methodists. (22.21)
Not even religion can bring people together in Manifest. Instead, everything is divided neatly by nationality and denomination. Where else do we see this kind of division in the town?
Quote #8
Places where people who have no home, no money, no hope gather together of an evening to share a fire and maybe some beans and coffee. […] Where, for a time, they might not feel quite so alone. (33.6)
Abilene sure likes hanging out with the homeless people by the train tracks. And so does Shady, as we later find out. Do they feel the same sense of loneliness that the homeless people do?
Quote #9
"Who would dare think the outcast and abandoned can find a home? […] Pah. What makes us think any of this could be true? And yet all of us, we participate in this myth, we create it, perpetuate it." (35.12)
Miss Sadie is understandably bitter. So far, nothing in her life has really worked out the way she wanted. Does she ever find a true home in Manifest?
Quote #10
But if Jinx was gone, then he couldn't be Gideon. And that meant I'd lost Gideon all over again. I was alone again. (37.2)
Miss Sadie's story makes Abilene think Jinx has died, and she's totally horrified. She's been convinced this whole time that Jinx is Gideon, so when Jinx dies (spoiler alert: he's not actually dead), she feels like a piece of her dad has died, too. Just one question: why on earth does Miss Sadie do this to her?!