How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"I've been inside you," she said. "So a word to the wise. If you tell anybody anything, they won't believe you. And, because I've been inside you, I'll know. And I can make it so you never say anything I don't want you to say to anybody, not ever again." (6.70)
Isolation can be scary and debilitating. Ursula Monkton needs control over the boy because he's her ticket home, so in order to gain full autonomy she needs to use powers of manipulation. By preventing him from reaching out for help, she is using fear and isolation as tools for gaining domination.
Quote #8
Ursula Monkton was at the bedroom door. "We don't talk to him," she told my sister. "We won't talk to him again until he's allowed to rejoin the family." (8.10)
Yikes—she's been a boarder at their house for like, a day, and she's already got the power to tell people who is and who isn't a part of the family. That's trouble right there.
Quote #9
"What happened last night?" she asked. "I thought you were in trouble, but then Mummy and Daddy came back and you were just staying with your friends. Why would they say you were sleeping at your friends'? You don't have any friends." (10. 79)
Thanks for that, sis—it's bad enough that he doesn't have any friends; he doesn't need her to remind him of it all the time. At least in this case he does have the Hempstocks, and they're pretty special friends.