Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Claire and I. Are we two souls? Or one split in half?” “Two souls. Definitely.” “Why are you so sure?” “Because neither of you is half of anything.”
The question of how similar is Claire and Sophie's case to that of their grandfather's is brought up. Who has the soul? Who deserves life?
Whether human or monster, the only options I offer are to join me, or die.”
Dr. Moreau
“All this talk about ideals and causes and stuff is so big and theoretical. Maybe for others that works. But for me, in the end, it feels like the only thing that really makes any sense—that truly matters—is people.”
An idea is an idea, but the people that it affects are what is important.
“I told Henri that integrity is the one thing nobody can take away from you. You have to choose to give it up.”
The strongest characteristic of Boy that makes him a 'hero' is his integrity. He is a young man of great integrity and honor. Old fashioned in that sense, he takes after his father.
“But those were the stupid dreams of a child. Now I know I don’t want to be anything like you. I have learned to understand and empathize with the analog world. There are some people in it I even love, in my way. But I no longer see any appeal in becoming part of it. I am a pure digital creature. I have traveled around the world and out into space. I have seen beauty your dull little meat brain couldn’t even begin to conceive of. I have no need of your precious sensual experience.”
Vi no longer feels constricted by her physical limitations, but liberated by them. She has come to understand that past the shallow and temporal world there is so much more.
“That isn’t the world. It’s what we’ve tried to turn it into. We’ve mapped it, we’ve studied it, and we think we know it. But we don’t. There are awesome things out there, and terrible things, and things that are beyond any words
There is more to the world than any one person's perspective of it because one person cannot hold all that there is in the world to themselves.
there is an emptiness inside me now. You made it.” I plunged my robot arm into his chest and closed my fist around his heart. The thick gristle of vein and artery fought against me and I almost gagged. “Please . . .” His voice was little more than a strangled breath through clenched teeth. “Please . . . mercy . . .” But I slowly ripped out his heart.
Boy must rip the evil out of the world (literally) in order to feel again. It isn't revenge, but a search for someway to simply rid the world of his evil.
To beat him I had allowed myself to become him. I had used people, cold and calculatingly. I had put them in grave danger. I had made them kill for me. And then when there was no one else to do it, I had done the killing myself. And for what? Moreau was right. I had done nothing except bring the world back to its natural broken state. Or perhaps even made it worse.
