These things, she felt, were not to be passed around like disingenuous party favors. She kept an honor code with her journals and her poems. 'Inside, inside,' she would whisper quietly to herself when she felt the urge to tell.
Alice SeboldRead
She sat in her room on the couch my parents had given up on and worked on hardening herself. Take deep breaths and hold them. Try to stay still for longer and longer periods of time. Make yourself small and like a stone. Curl the edges of yourself up and fold them under where no one can see. ~pg 29, Susie's sister Lindsey dealing with grief.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the process of coping with grief by encouraging self-preservation and introspection.
In this poignant moment from Alice Sebold's narrative, Lindsey is depicted as retreating into herself as a means to navigate her grief. The act of hardening oneself suggests an attempt to protect against emotional pain, while the imagery of curling up like a stone indicates a desire to become impervious to the outside world and its overwhelming emotions. This straddling of vulnerability and resilience highlights a universal human experience in the face of loss.
Themes
GriefSelf-PreservationIntrospectionHealingVulnerability
In practice
Example use cases
In a support group for bereaved families, this quote could be shared to highlight the personal journey of coping with loss.
More from Alice Sebold
All quotes →After telling the hard facts to anyone from lover to friend, I have changed in their eyes. Often it is awe or admiration, sometimes it is repulsion, once or twice it has been fury hurled directly at me for reasons I remain unsure of.
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The stains could be seen only in the sunlight, so Ruth was never really aware of them until later, when she would stop at an outdoor cafe for a cup of coffee, and look down at her skirt and see the dark traces of spilled vodka or whiskey. The alcohol had the effect of making the black cloth blacker. This amused her; she had noted in her journal: 'booze affects material as it does people'.
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Murderers are not monsters, they're men. And that's the most frightening thing about them.
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As she stood in the darkened room and watched my sister and father, I knew one of things that heaven meant. I had a choice, and it was not to divide my family in my heart.
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She liked to imagine that when she passed the world looked after her, but she also knew how anonymous she was.
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