56 pages • 1 hour read
Appetite for Innocence
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Important Quotes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, rape and sexual violence, termination of pregnancy, child abuse, substance use, addiction, and child death.
“I shove my earplugs in as far as they’ll go to drown out the sounds of her cries. I hate the crying, and they always cry. […] Now, I just let them cry.”
(Chapter 1, Page 1)
This opening line establishes Sarah’s detached and hardened persona through a first-person narrative voice that is immediately devoid of empathy. Her reliance on earplugs introduces the motif of willed ignorance and sensory blocking as a survival mechanism. The evolution from trying to soothe the other captives to letting them cry demonstrates her psychological adaptation, positioning her in a morally ambiguous space and introducing the theme of The Ambiguous Morality of Survival.
“My mind and body are separate now. I used to just be me. One person. But now I’m split. I have a body and a mind. […] I can’t help but wonder if I’ll ever go back to just being one.”
(Chapter 5, Pages 11-12)
In the aftermath of her escape, Ella’s internal monologue provides a direct articulation of depersonalization, a common response to severe trauma. This interiority explicitly states the novel’s central theme, The Challenges to Self-Restoration in the Wake of Trauma. The simple, declarative sentences (“My mind and body are separate now”) convey the stark and bewildering reality of her psychological state, framing her identity as fractured and her path to healing as uncertain.
“‘She’s been here for years. Forever maybe.’ She leans in closer. ‘She’s his daughter.’”
(Chapter 11, Page 41)
