How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I can't go anywhere. Clothes are supposed to have a body inside them, and mine is missing. (1.75)
It's going to be hard for Bobby to go out into the world and socialize without a visible body. After all, people aren't exactly going to treat him the same as anyone else if he just looks like empty space.
Quote #2
Alone isn't new for me. I spend a lot of time this way. When I'm not at school, I mostly read. That's why I like the library, the big one between Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Street. It's part of the university, not the high school. I can hang out there as long as I want. (2.28)
Even though Bobby is used to being alone, he's not used to being lonely. He's a normal kid with a normal life—he has friends and school to keep him busy. Without those things, he's kind of lost.
Quote #3
I'm out in public, but I am completely alone. There's action all around me. People are doing things and saying things, but it's like they're in a different dimension, like they're on a stage or screen. And me? I'm just watching, an audience of one, watching secretly. I can't talk or sneeze or clear my throat. (3.33)
Bobby's at the public library with a bunch of people… but he's completely isolated. It's not like he can talk to anyone; people can't even see him. It's like he's not even there.
Quote #4
Coming home to an empty house. I mean, I've done it plenty of times, but tonight it's different. Alone is one thing; alone at night—all night—that's something else. (7.2)
As if Bobby wasn't already feeling lonesome enough, his parents—the only people who know about his invisibility—end up getting into a car accident and leaving him alone at home. This is going to be a tough few days.
Quote #5
The traffic thins, and a few teachers mill around the door… And then the buses pull away, and the flow trickles down to a few stragglers.
Show's over. School's out. (9.19-20)
Poor Bobby. He went all the way over to the school to stand naked outside, which sounds like a common nightmare. But no one says hi to him. It's like he doesn't exist now that he's invisible.
Quote #6
I could still back out. I could turn around and go silently out of the room and she'd never know it was me.
But it's been three days since I've talked to anyone except Mom and Dad. And Mrs. Trent and Dr. Fleming. And a couple of cabdrivers. So basically, it's been three days with no human contact. (10.6-7)
Bobby totally knows that he's risking a lot by talking to Alicia… but he can't help himself. She's the only person in the world who he can talk to without her knowing about his special condition. She won't treat him differently because of it because she can't see it.
Quote #7
There are so many different kinds of smiles. This one that she smiles at me is a new one. It's warm, but there's tons of other stuff behind it. Like sadness. And loneliness. A lot of loneliness, I think. (10.37)
Maybe Alicia isn't exactly angry all the time—maybe she's just lonely and sad. It can't be easy for her to have her whole life completely change overnight, including the disappearance of her social circle. Bobby's got an idea of what that loneliness feels like.
Quote #8
I'd like to just walk along and talk with her, but there are other people on the sidewalks, too much else to deal with. But when we get away from the library, there are fewer people, and there's also traffic noise, so I'm not afraid to talk. Plus, she's right about people avoiding her. No one walks near her, no one even looks at her for more than a second. (11.15)
Even when she's out and about, no one wants to approach Alicia. They just feel awkward talking to her like she's a normal human being without mentioning the obvious—that she's blind.
Quote #9
"So, I can't talk to her?" Because I don't think I could stand that.
Mom reaches into her purse and hands me her cell phone. "Use this, and you can give Alicia that number, okay?" (17.10-11)
What's worse than being invisible? Being invisible and not being able to call the one friend who knows about it, that's what. Bobby's mom may be paranoid about the government, but she's not cruel enough to take away his one connection to the outside world.
Quote #10
Ten minutes go by, and then Mrs. Van Dorn gets up, heaves a big sigh, puts her book under her arm, and starts walking slowly back towards her house. She can go be sad and lonely at home. (20.10)
Alicia's blindness hasn't just had an effect on her life, it's changed her parents' lives, too. Her mom is now stuck in her own lonely world. She doesn't have a full working life anymore, and she's always following around a daughter who wants to be left alone.