How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The moment had passed, the door between the lives we could have led and the lives we led had shut in our faces. Or better to say, in my face. Grammar of my life: as a rule of thumb, wherever there appears a plural, correct for singular. (4.53)
But after all this time, why would the impulse to pluralize even remain? What does that say about the human instinct for companionship?
Quote #5
I live alone, which doesn't bother me. Or maybe just a little. (5.17)
No, how much, really? And why does he want us to think that living alone doesn't bother him at all?
Quote #6
I left the library. Crossing the street, I was hit head-on by a brutal loneliness. I felt dark and hollow. Abandoned, unnoticed, forgotten. I stood on the sidewalk a nothing, a gathering of dust. (7.62)
Once again, books and literature serve as a replacement for human companionship. Leaving the library, and the warm embrace of those millions of words, Leo realizes just how alone he is. The irony, of course, is that he lives in downtown Manhattan, where he's literally surrounded by millions of real human beings.