Highly Illogical Behavior

“It was innocent enough, but he hoped she wasn’t actually that desperate for him to change. Because, if she was, then wouldn’t these little moments, built up over time, eventually collapse into a mess?” 

When Valerie first brings up a girl named Lisa who has been at the office asking after Solomon, Solomon worries it’s another way of his mother hinting that he should reconsider going out into the world. At this point, Solomon is certain that the life he has chosen is the best one for him. This quote is a moment of foreshadowing, as the little sparks of hopes and dreams his parents have for him do implode when he regresses months later. 

“She never knew him, really, but she’d always thought he looked nice, like the kind of guy who’d hold a door open for someone else without a thought. And she’d always hoped that someday she’d see him again or, at the very least, hear that he was doing okay.” 

This quote represents the interest Lisa has always had in Solomon. Although most of his classmates have long forgotten about his episode in the fountain, Lisa has not. It is true that Lisa thinks of him for her own purposes, but the fact is that Lisa does think of him. That Lisa had always had the sense that Solomon is a decent person is indicative of a predestined friendship that both eventually benefit from.

“But Lisa needed something bigger. She wanted to be important.” 

When Lisa looks at her mother’s life, she sees the opposite of what she wants for her own. That Lisa says she wants to be important is indicative of how she treats people and therefore propels the plot. Lisa wants to be Solomon’s therapist so that she can go off to college away from Upland, but she also gains a sense of pleasure and purpose at being the person to cure him. For Lisa, not being the one in charge, in control, and relevant to someone else means she is not succeeding. 

“Water calmed him down. He didn’t know why, but it helped. He’d lie in the bath for an hour or more, his eyes closed, focusing his attention on the whirring of the bathroom vent. And that blocked it all out, anything that could make him worse, any thoughts that could start looping around and around in his mind.” 

Solomon is inexplicably calmed by water, and this quote identifies it as a motif. If a bathtub can help him, Solomon and his parents imagine how much a whole swimming pool could help—and motivate him to step foot outside. 

“It’s just that when you’re afraid of dying, you’ll do whatever it takes to keep yourself pretty healthy and the pool would help.” 

Although Solomon’s behavior seems erratic and odd, this quote proves that Solomon is trying to survive, just like everyone else. Solomon’s fear of dying is acute given his anxiety issues, but the truth of his condition is almost that simple: He is afraid of death and wants desperately to stay healthy.

“So he lay there in the dark without them ever knowing he wasn’t okay. Because he’d learned a long time ago that the better they thought he was, the longer he could live this way.” 

As close as Solomon is to his family, he does keep secrets. The depth of his panic, even while living safely in the house, is much more intense than his parents know. He keeps this a secret so that his family doesn’t question his method. This quote also foreshadows that Solomon will in fact not continue to live this way, because it’s actually not working.

“Valerie Reed was a beautiful woman. She had laugh lines around her eyes and mouth, but the kind that make you envious of whatever put them there. Lisa had expected a hardened, maybe bitter person to be this troubled boy’s mother, but Valerie Reed seemed as happy as could be.” 

Lisa is surprised to discover how happy Solomon’s mother is; this quote also foreshadows more about Lisa’s own struggles with mother figures. Lisa will become a fixture of Valerie Reed’s home, and Valerie represents the type of stable, loving mother that Lisa does not have. 

“But she also knew that there were a lot of people in the world who regretted never doing the things they felt were right because they were afraid of seeming strange or crazy. Lisa wouldn’t settle for that mediocre existence, one bound by invisible social cues.”

This quote represents Lisa’s determination to live a life unlike her mother’s. This quote also provides a rationale for why Lisa doesn’t seem bothered that her idea of an experiment with Solomon is not unethical enough not to pursue.

“Her first thought was relief—maybe this kid would be easier to help than she’d expected.” 

Lisa has this thought early on in her first encounter with Solomon. Although there are some complications in her helping Solomon, this does turn out to be true. Solomon is not who Lisa (or Clark) had been expecting. This quote foreshadows how quickly Solomon progresses, but it also underscores Lisa’s assumptions about people. Lisa believes that she is mature and smart enough to be a teenage stranger’s therapist, and yet she goes into the experiment with assumptions that turn out to be false right away.

“It wouldn’t be easy, especially pretending to be his friend instead of his counselor, but she knew he’d thank her in the end, secret or no secret.”

This quote demonstrates that Lisa understands the problematic nature of her experiment, but that she is so focused and determined that she believes it won’t matter in the end. This shows that Lisa does not entertain the thought of failure, to an unhealthy extent as she is dealing not just with herself but with another human being whose mental health is delicate. This also foreshadows the ending of the book: Solomon does cherish her help, even after the explosion of emotion when he discovers the secret.

“I tried talking to him about it, but he doesn’t like to get too serious. It’s a problem, really, but I’m working on it.” 

Here, Lisa is talking to Solomon about Clark. Lisa believes it is her job, or right, to work on everyone around her. This desire to control everything and everyone around her often leads Lisa making the wrong impressions of people. Even though Clark is her boyfriend, she underestimates his willingness to get serious. In the end, Clark’s rational and serious conversations help Lisa and Solomon.

“Then he thought about Lisa. She had no idea what she meant to them, did she? She probably felt like some stranger invading their personal space and she definitely was, but she could very well end up saving them all.” 

This is Solomon’s first acknowledgement that Lisa is not only important to him but to his entire family. This feeling lends more credibility and trust to Lisa, and sharing his family is like sharing the most intimate part of himself with her. Solomon can sense that Lisa can save them, without knowing that is exactly what her plan is. He underestimates himself in this—although Lisa is instrumental in helping Solomon, he is the only person who can choose to make his situation better.

“But she believed in herself maybe more than other people believed in God or the devil or Heaven or Hell.” 

This quote perfectly characterizes the strength of Lisa’s confidence and determination. Lisa is driven to believe in herself, but so much so that if she believes in herself more than other people believe in God, it doesn’t allow for anything less than perfection.

“She thought she might cry, but she didn’t do that often and it always took more out of her than it was worth.” 

This quote highlights a moment of characterization for Lisa. Lisa is tough; she holds back her tears to control even her emotions. This characterization poses a contrast to her mother, who cries easily. This also emphasizes how serious the situations are when Lisa does eventually succumb to tears later on in the novel.

“He doesn’t know how to be himself because he thinks it doesn’t matter who he is.” 

This quote aptly portrays Solomon’s low sense of self-worth. Because he has created a life for himself in which he only sees his parents and grandmother, he is not used to thinking of his layers of personality as important to anybody else. This quote also implies that this is a part of and a product of his condition: He walks away from school and the outside world because he feels worthless. 

“It hadn’t before, really, so he tried to think about something else to keep him from freaking out. But it wouldn’t go away. He felt it. It was small and it was complicated, but he felt it all the same. He wanted to follow them. He wanted to walk outside and follow them into the world.” 

This is a major turning point in the novel for Solomon. Usually, the thought of going out into the world is enough to set Solomon into a panic, but in this moment, he is entertaining the idea. He can sense that if the world is where Clark and Lisa exist, then he wants to be where they are. That feeling will continue to ebb and flow, but it never truly goes away—a permanent progress for Solomon thanks to his new friendships.

“Lisa was simultaneously appalled and in awe of his restraint. Or maybe some families just don’t fight. She’d probably never know, but she couldn’t imagine these people ever raising their voices over anything more than a foul ball.” 

When Solomon and his father do no let an argument escalate, Lisa is struck by how different his family is from hers. Lisa is accustomed to yelling and fighting, not to this loving family who supports someone with as many complications as Solomon. This quote demonstrates how much Lisa is learning about the world and her own life through the experiment. It also helps to establish the extreme severity of Solomon’s panic attack later on in the book, when Lisa can hear his father yelling even outside of the house. The simple fact of yelling isn’t what makes it destructive; the motivation behind the yelling is what indicates the health of the family.

“He treated Solomon just the way she’d hoped—like he was normal. And maybe that was part of getting him better. Maybe if someone like Clark could ignore Solomon’s problems, then other people out there could, too.” 

This quote illustrates important signs that Lisa, smart though she is, is missing. First, Clark doesn’t necessarily ignore Solomon’s problems. Rather, he enjoys Solomon’s company and personality so much that the problems are a part of the package that Clark loves. Secondly, Lisa underestimates how accepting Clark truly is. This quote does show that Lisa can see the bigger issue behind Solomon’s refusal to leave the house; namely, that if people in society were kinder to Solomon, he wouldn’t feel such a desperate need to avoid them. The problem, then, is society—not Solomon.

“And no matter how many times she convinced herself that it couldn’t be true, she still kept coming back around to the possibility that it could.” 

This quote highlights the change in Lisa’s character development once Janis puts it in her mind that Clark could be in love with Solomon. Even though it was an easy way to hurt her and there is no indication in Clark’s behavior that Clark is gay, Lisa somehow starts to believe it. As rational as Lisa wants to be, she too is only human and can be easily swayed by irrational emotions.

“Maybe this was just his version of getting better, or accepting that sometimes he needed help. He’d missed her, especially the way she took charge of things. If he couldn’t be in control, he knew she could, and without her, things were starting to get weird.”

Solomon feels guilty that he harbors feelings of love for Lisa’s boyfriend. No matter how in love he is with Clark, he has come to love Lisa like a sister who helps him control his attacks. He relies on Lisa for his safety, thus foreshadowing the strength of their bond. Even when they feel betrayed and separated, they will always come back together because she is his control factor.

“Maybe that was her fault, for all the time she’d spent quietly observing them and studying Solomon’s tics and triggers. It was like they spoke a language she’d only just forgotten.” 

Lisa has lost control over her experiment because she underestimated how close Clark and Solomon could become. Which is to say, she underestimated how humans can relate to each other quickly and deeply. Feeling excluded from this new relationship formed between Clark and Solomon is the negative side effect of Lisa’s determination to carry out her plan. Instead of dwelling on the hurt of it all, she is reminded even more of her determination to get away from everyone. This only reinvigorates her mission to see the experiment through.

“Maybe he could’ve been coming out here this whole time. It felt so easy now. All it took was one step and it was like it had never been off limits, like he hadn’t gone three years without touching the grass or feeling the sun on his skin or shivering in the night breeze. Is this what getting better felt like? And if all he had to do was close his eyes and take a step to make everything better, then why couldn’t he just do it?” 

This is an important moment for Solomon. In reflecting on his past he realizes how much he’s been missing by staying indoors. This quote does not mention Clark or Lisa, suggesting that it truly is Solomon and his desire to be in the sun and in the water that motivates him to go outside. Solomon “fixes” himself. 

“But, this wasn’t a perfect world—this was the world that Solomon Reed had run away from and the more Lisa thought about it the less ridiculous that idea sounded to her. After all, wasn’t she just trying to run away from the little part of the world that scared her too?”

This quote shows the lessons Lisa learns as the experiment goes out of her control. She finally accepts that part of her motivations are driven by running away from problems instead of solving them. In this way, she is similar to Solomon. Now that she can understand where Solomon is coming from, she can contextualize how dangerous and irresponsible her experiment is.