How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed. Blood gushed rhythmically from my open wound,
then from my eyes,
my ears,
my mouth. (2.19-22)
This is the first instance in the book of Cadence saying something that makes you go, "Wait, what?" It takes a few more paragraphs to figure out she's being metaphorical—but where do her metaphors end and her hallucinations begin?
Quote #2
My head and shoulders melted first, followed by my hips and knees. Before long I was a puddle, soaking into the pretty cotton prints. I drenched the quilt she never finished, rusted the metal parts of her sewing machine. (11.9)
Cadence imagines a form of crying with her whole body in response to her grandmother's death.
Quote #3
I must have had my face in the water and then hit my head on one of these rocks.
Like I said, I don't know.
I remember only this: I plunged down into this ocean,
down to rocky rocky bottom, and
I could see the base of Beechwood Island and
my arms and legs felt numb but my fingers were cold. (12.8-13)
Can you really see the base of an island? Can you sink to the bottom of the ocean? Does Cadence really remember these things?
Quote #4
In Europe […] I lay prone on the bathroom floors of several museums, feeling the cold tile underneath my cheek as my brain liquefied and seeped out my ear, bubbling. Migraines left my blood spreading across unfamiliar hotel sheets, dripping on the floors, oozing into carpets, soaking through leftover croissants and Italian lace cookies. (14.11)
Cadence's description of her headaches, like her other metaphors, involves her body melting into her surroundings. Not to be gross, but the other Liars' bodies quite literally melt into their surroundings when they die.
Quote #5
I made her tell me one last time, and I wrote down her answers so I could look back at them when I wanted to. That's why I can tell you about the night-swimming accident, the rocks, the hypothermia, respiratory difficulty, and the unconfirmed traumatic brain injury. (18.29)
Cadence claims she only remembers the accident due to what her mother told her, but in Chapter 12 she relates seeing the base of the island and feeling the numbness in her body. There's a whole lot of lying—or misremembering—going on here.
Quote #6
I want to know why Gat disappeared. I don't know why he wasn't with me, swimming. I don't know why I went to the tiny beach alone. Why I swam in my underwear and left no clothes on the sand. (19.5)
It's easier for Cadence to believe Gat abandoned her than that he's dead—and it's much easier than believing she killed him.
Quote #7
"But Bonnie's the only one who believes me about Cuddledown," he says. "And I wanted to call you. Only not if you're a drug addict because drug addicts don't know what's going on." (22.20)
It's not because she's an addict that Cadence doesn't know what's going on. Nope, her brain is clouded enough all on its own without assistance from the pharmaceuticals.
Quote #8
"You feel like you know me, Cady, but you only know the me who comes here," he says. "It's—it's just not the whole picture. You don't know my bedroom with the window onto the airshaft, my mom's curry, the guys from school, the way we celebrate holidays. You only know the me on this island, where everyone's rich except me and the staff." (39.14)
Cadence doesn't make an effort to know Gat outside of Beechwood—to do so would mean a serious shattering of romantic illusions. But can you really love someone if you only know them in one context?
Quote #9
Sometimes I wonder if reality splits […] Everyone has duplicates of themselves in these other worlds. Different selves with different lives, different luck. (54.65)
Here's where Cadence gets all Matrix on us. Red pill or blue?
Quote #10
Cadence Sinclair Eastman had no memory of the events surrounding the fire, no memory of it ever happening. Her burns healed quickly but she exhibited selective amnesia regarding the events of the previous summer. She persisted in believing she had injured her head while swimming. (80.20)
If Cadence thinks she injured her head while swimming, how does she account for the burns on her hands? Could you wake up in the hospital with your burned hands in bandages and believe you'd suffered a head injury while swimming? Last we checked, water puts out fire…