How we cite our quotes: (Section Break.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"So," you murmured. "What is it you want to do, then? Get a job like your dad? Travel like your mom?"
I shrugged. "That's what they'd like. I don't know. Nothing really seems right."
"Not … meaningful enough?"
"Yeah, maybe. I mean, they just collect stuff. Dad collects other people's money and Mum collects people's drawings. What do they really do that's theirs?" (1.40-43)
Ooh, burn. Not only does Gemma have a ton of contempt for her parents' work, she sees it as having little meaning or significance. And yet, that's what they seem to expect from her as she chooses a career path.
Quote #2
You must have thought of everything: a ticket, a new passport, our route through, how to get past security. Was it the most carefully planned steal ever, or just luck? It can't have been easy to have got me through Bangkok airport and onto a different plane without anyone knowing, not even me. (2.10)
Ty doesn't just break the law when he takes Gemma—he blows it up, violating just about every rule in place at airports for safety and identification. So much for rigid security measures.
Quote #3
I felt a brief glimmer of hope anyway, a stirring that maybe everything would be okay. Australia was a civilized country, with a law system and police and a government. People could be looking for me already, police hunting me out. The whole nation might be on alert. Then the glimmer faded. You'd taken me from Bangkok. Who'd guess to look for me in Australia? (8.23)
It's interesting that Australia as a "civilized country" speaks to Gemma's sense of justice. In this moment, the vast wilderness that scared her so much doesn't seem to matter—she's in a nation that has law enforcement and will handle her situation. Until, at least, she realizes no one knows to look for her there. Oops.
Quote #4
Then Dad was up and banging on my door. He always lectured me over breakfast, about getting good grades and about which universities I should start looking at in the summer. (25.5)
Dude, we feel really badly for Gemma's parents and the ordeal they have to go through because she disappears, but her dad needs to take a chill pill. You probably know as well as anyone that getting nagged to do well in school and apply to college doesn't really do any good.
Quote #5
"They took me to the city, shoved me in the back of a truck […] They took me to this kids' home place. They gave me a room without a window, bursting with other kids. They wanted my name but I wouldn't tell them; I wouldn't tell them anything. So they called me Tom […] for a few months. They decided how I was, what I was going to wear. Because I didn't speak to them, they tried to make me a different person." (31.51-53)
No wonder Ty hates authority so much: While the social workers who took him to the city were only following the law, they nonetheless did a ton of damage to him by ripping him away from his home.
Quote #6
"Each day your parents pushed you into being more like them," you continued, "pushed you into a meaningless life. You didn't want that, I know you didn't."
"What do you know about my parents?" I shouted.
You blinked again. "Everything." (37.47-49)
Ty may be slightly exaggerating when he says he knows "everything" about Gemma's parents, but one thing's for sure—what we observe of them and what she tells us definitely reveal that they're committed to a certain social order. The fact that she's an only child probably doesn't help, either. Hello, high expectations.
Quote #7
"You know I'm right," you said. "Your parents are assholes. Their main concern is making money, making their house look like something out of a magazine, and getting mentioned in the society pages. They were molding you all the way, too, training you to be a little version of them. I saved you from that." (37.71)
Calling Gemma's parents a-holes is probably a little strong, but again, they do seem to be pressuring Gemma to accept their values system and rules. If anything, maybe this experience will help Gemma see that she has other options besides pursuing banking or buying other people's paintings.
Quote #8
I tried keeping my voice casual, trying a different tactic. "You know, I can get help for you, or money. Dad knows people, lots of people … doctors, lawyers …"
You didn't let me finish. You were up in a second. "You think that's what I want?" (37.121-122)
One thing's for certain: A major difference between Gemma and Ty is that she's been brought up from birth in the realm of conventional society and order, while he's grown up seeing this same society and order as the enemy. So, when she gives Ty advice about getting help, she of course does so within that frame of reference, unaware that doctors and lawyers will have absolutely no value or significance to Ty.
Quote #9
"He's not a monster," I said quietly.
Mum's hands went stiff around the sheets as she looked sharply at me. "That man is evil," she hissed. "Why else would he have taken you from us?" (98.17-18)
What's really funny is that at this point in the book, Gemma's mom is thinking the same thing we initially did about Ty—that he's a criminal who's up to no good. Npw, having spent the whole book in Australia with him and Gemma, we feel this odd compulsion to defend him, even though we still can't agree with his actions. Still, Gemma's mom is operating within the boundaries of the norms of the law and only sees him as dangerous.
Quote #10
[Dr. Donovan] looked at me carefully, raising an eyebrow. "Whatever he did," she continued softly, "whatever Mr. MacFarlane did or said to you, you know he hasn't done the right thing, don't you, Gemma?"
"You sound like my mum," I said.
"Is that so bad?" (100.22-24)
Obviously, Ty did not do the "right thing" by abducting Gemma. Still, Dr. Donovan's absolute failure to listen to Gemma's side of the story demonstrates how rigidly she adheres to the dominance of law and order. To her, there is only right and wrong, with little room for nuanced understanding.