How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I can't say I always wanted to go to school because that wouldn't be exactly true. What I wanted was to go to school, but only if I could be like every other kid going to school. (1.Why I Didn't Go to School.3)
So Auggie's alone if he stays home, but he also worries he'll be alone at school because he won't blend into the crowd.
Quote #2
If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing. (1.Ordinary.2)
People can't even handle looking at Auggie. They're trying to pretend they're not shocked, but if they were okay with how he looked they wouldn't have to look away so quickly. This behavior kind of makes him invisible. By refusing to gaze normally at him, people unintentionally isolate him.
Quote #3
I tried to sit down at one table, but the kid in the next chair said, "Oh, sorry, but somebody else is sitting here."
So I moved to an empty table and just waited for everyone to finish stampeding and the lunchroom teacher to tell us what to do next. (1.Lunch.1-2)
Even though his sister warned him about the lunch room being tough, Auggie isn't prepared for how awkward and crummy it feels to sit and eat alone. Where is that welcome wagon, anyway? Zero out of three kids who said they'd help Auggie are on hand to relieve his isolation in this highly visible social setting.
Quote #4
They would take the longest way around me to avoid bumping into me in any way, like I had some germ they could catch, like my face was contagious. (1.Wake Me Up When September Ends.2)
Great—now kids are treating him like he's contagious. The absence of normal human contact creates both physical and emotional isolation, and touch is actually an essential human need.
Quote #5
I noticed not too long ago that even though people were getting used to me, no one would actually touch me. I didn't realize this at first because it's not like kids go around touching each other that much in middle school anyway. (1.The Cheese Touch.1)
This entire chapter—"The Cheese Touch"—catalogues instances of kids freaking out about the possibility of having to touch Auggie, or dealing with the "emergency" of accidentally having brushed against him. So while the kids of Beecher Prep are getting used to the way he looks, they sure aren't working toward accepting him—instead they're working to keep him apart.
Quote #6
I've always understood that August is special and has special needs. […] If I wanted Mom and Dad to watch me play soccer, I knew that nine out of ten times they'd miss it because they were busy shuttling August to speech therapy or physical therapy or a new specialist or a surgery. (2.A Tour of the Galaxy.2)
Although August's isolation is the most marked and intense in the story, other characters struggle with their own versions of it. August's sister, Via, has been constantly eclipsed by August. His greater needs have simply resulted in Via often being the only person taking care of Via.
Quote #7
I've got a form of the plague now, is what I thought. This is Julian's payback. And that's pretty much how it went all morning. Nobody talked to me. […]
It felt really awful being at the table by myself. I felt like everyone was watching me. It also made me feel like I had no friends. I decided to skip lunch and go read in the library. (4.Back from Winter Break.3, 6)
Jack learns that choosing to isolate himself intentionally is less painful than being rejected by others first. Somebody ask Auggie if he knows what Jack's talking about….
Quote #8
"It just feels so weird," I said, "to not have people talking to you, pretending you don't even exist."
Auggie started smiling.
"Ya think? He said sarcastically. "Welcome to my world!" (4.Why I Didn't Sit with August the First Day of School.5-7)
For Jack, it's one thing to be friends with so August and see him treated unkindly by classmates, but it's a whole different thing to personally suffer that same social rejection. Auggie is there to support Jack even though Jack wasn't there for Auggie earlier because Auggie has been there and done that—and he knows all about how "weird" it is.
Quote #9
my family's not like this at all. my mom and dad got divorced when I was four and they pretty much hate each other. i grew up spending half of every week in my dad's apartment in chelsea and the other half in my mom's place in brooklyn heights. i have a half brother who's five years older than me and barely knows I exist. […] it's funny how there's a word like overprotective to describe some parents, but no word that means the opposite. what word do you use to describe parents who don't protect enough? under protective? neglectful? self-involved? lame? all of the above. (5.Valentine's Day.18)
Though we don't hear much more than this about it, Justin's description of his home life shows his emotional isolation from his family. When all of Justin's tics go away while he spends an evening with the Pullman family, we see what a difference a warm emotional connection can make.
Quote #10
After the divorce, I hardly ever saw my father. And my mother acted stranger than ever. It's not that she was unstable or anything: just distant. Remote. My mother is the kind of person who has a happy face for the rest of the world, but not a lot left over for me. She's never talked to me much—not about her feelings, her life. (7.Camp Lies.2)
Miranda is physically isolated from both her parents, and emotionally abandoned by them. Unhappy with her reality, she invents—and broadcasts—a new, improved version of her life. She populates this version of her home life with a deformed little brother and a dog named Daisy. Imaginary siblings and pets? Now that's a lonely kid.
Quote #11
So on opening night no one that was remotely close to me was even there. And the thing is, I realized in my third or fourth rehearsal that I was good at this acting thing. […] And on opening night, I can honestly say I knew I was going to more than good: I was going to be great. I was going to be extraordinary, but there would be no one there to see. (7.Extraordinary, but No One There to See.3)
That not one of Miranda's family or friends bothers to show up for her debut in the play—which means so much to her—speaks to her painful emotional isolation. Through all his isolation at school, at least Auggie knows he can always count on his family, no matter what.