“He has never been heard to utter a word, ‘Says the mother as though repeating a statement from a written case history.”
This quote emphasizes the boy’s infirmity. The mother’s words and the doctors’ subsequent explication about ‘written case history’ means that the boy’s inability to speak is an actuality that the mother is sure about. The child’s case means that he has not gone through ordinary stages of development; hence, the boy’s perception of the world cannot be analyzed using the conventional, universal theories on development.
“What malice made this? Surely not God! Perhaps he is a changeling- an imperfect child put in place of another, a normal one who had been stolen by the fairies”
This quote has overtones of existentialism as it questions God’s role in the creation disability. The child is defective as he cannot lead a typical life like the other children who are in good physical shape. The doctor transferences the liability to the fairies, as he postulates that God is flawless ; hence would not craft anything that is unsatisfactory. The doctor ignores factors such as genetics that could have contributed to the boy’s scenario when he shifts liability to the fairies.
“I think of the immensity of the love and I see for a moment what the father must see- the soul that lay in the body of the child like a chest of jewels in a sunken ship. Through the fathoms it glows”
The father’s love for his immobilized child rises above the boy’s imperfection and frailty. Paralleling the child’s soul to the ‘jewels’ makes it evident that the boy’s worth to his father is priceless. The love that the father has for his son is beyond physical as it is not predisposed to any conditions.
"That very night she awoke suddenly and sat bolt upright in the bed, and she clapped her hand over her mouth as if to hold back what threatened to burst from it. A scream? Laughter? She didn’t know what. But what she did know, beyond any doubt, as though it had been a revelation, was what it was he must do.”
Hannah lives through her epiphany in this quote. Hannah is torn between screaming and laughing for the reason that the moment is supernatural and potent. The moment ensues after she dreams about Sam about to bestow his heart to another man. The events that follow Hannah’s insight confirm that looking for the benefactor of Sam’s heart is what she has intuitively hankered for all along.
"At Last Hannah opened her eyes are raised her head. Never, never had she felt such a sense of consolation and happiness. Had it been a dream? Had she fallen a sleep? It was a moment before she felt his arm about the shoulders. How long, she wondered, had she lain encircled and unaware?”
This quote serves an array of purposes that include: accentuating Hannah’s moment of grace, acting as the climax of the story and portraying Hannah’s Imaginary Order. Hannah relishes equanimity as a result of accomplishing her aim. The serenity is meaningful as it marks the denouement of her wounds. Additionally, the quote evidences the story’s climax as Hannah attains what she has sought for ceaselessly; thus, her conflict fades out. Moreover, Hannah’s inability to establish whether she was fantasizing or if she had slumbered in the course of listening epitomizes her Imaginary Order which takes her to a realm where she is with Sam.
