Quote the Second

"The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Quote time! (Again....) Here we go.

This guy, Mr. Holmes (but not Sherlock) is saying that what really defines a book isn't what the characters think, say, and do, but in fact what thought, idea, or motion their whole story makes you recall and realize the truth of it. It is what the underlying subject is, the real reason for a book's writing, and just what exactly it means. (Sorry this paragraph isn't as long as the last time I did a quote, this is just so much easier to explain. I think.)

The quote really does have meaning to my book, instead of just some random thing I try to twist to make it seem like it does. This book- the whole thing- is all about why the world of their past (our present) is worth living in, and the world in their time is not. It is saying that paradise isn't worth living in without color, without individuality, without choice. They can't see color, they don't know it, but once Jonas sees it, he knows that his old life was boring without it. They can't feel things, they have no emotions, no real anger, happiness, sadness, not even love. They don't love one another, but how can't you! They have unloved families who don't use the word. That is just pathetic- you need love to have a life. They don't choose what they do for a living, which isn't that bad, but they also have the government choose who you marry! That is what I mean- they wouldn't even be married if they weren't told to without love again.

The book is only saying, with every page, that their world isn't worth living in without love, choice, and color. It is saying that we need love, and that we are lucky to have what we do- the power to choose, to love, to be your own person, even if we don't live in paradise.

Ciao,

Carli