He was filthy and pale and dried out and I thought he was dead. I couldn't have been more wrong.
This passage in the novel' opening foreshadows what happens later in the story: instead of being a dead homeless man, Skellig is, in fact, the creature who gains enough strength to bring Michael's baby sister back to life. This line also shows how, in the beginning, Michael only looks at the outer appearance of people to draw conclusions about them. Only later does he learn to observe more carefully in order to fully appreciate everything and everyone around him.
"My mother educates me. We believe that schools inhibit the natural curiosity, creativity, and intelligence of children. The mind needs to be opened out into the world, not shuttered down inside a gloomy classroom."
This quote sums up Mina's opinion about homeschooling. She presumes that children have a natural desire to learn, and she subsequently states that formal schooling is harmful to a child's development. Children should be free to explore what they want and how they want, instead of being trapped in a dark room being told what to do. They should learn how the world works by closely examining the real-life examples using all senses, instead of using illustrations or books.
"Sometimes we think we should be able to know everything. But we can't. We have to allow ourselves to see what there is to see, and we have to imagine."
Mina says this after Michael wonders why Skellig eats living things and makes pellets like the owls. She emphasizes that there are things in this world that we do not understand, particularly negative events such as the baby's heart condition or her father's death. She acknowledges the rapid evolution of medicine and science, but at the same time, she realizes that humanity will never be able to provide answers to the grand scheme of things. Instead, she believes that there is a spiritual component that holds the world together, which is only accessible by imagination and faith.
"And spirit jumping in and jumping out but never seen."
After reciting a series of bones and organs, Mina adds the spiritual component to the human body. While Michael only focuses on the physical features, she indicates that there is more to humans than meets the eye. This is an important message in the novel because Almond wants us to go beyond mere surface or supposition to get at what really matters.
"And to be quite honest, Mrs. Dando, the last thing Michael needs is to be troubled by petty things like football and school."
Mina says this on the day of the baby's heart surgery. She suggests that school and football, two things that play a major role in Michael and many other children's lives, are in fact trivial and unimportant compared to faith and the love for one another. Specifically, the kind of homework that Mrs. Dando brings to Michael is seen by Mina as useless, as she believes in freedom of exploration. Mina has a point here, but she is also being somewhat snobbish and, ironically, close-minded. Michael needs to find out the balance that works for him in order to be happy and fulfilled.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
He shrugged again.
"Something," he said. "Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel." He laughed. "Something like that."
At this moment, when Michael asks the simple question "Who are you?", Skellig refuses to give a straightforward answer. Instead, he leaves it up to the reader to imagine what exactly he might be. He indicates that he possesses qualities of humans, beasts, birds, and angels, which means he is a mixture of the four, somewhere between the physical and the spiritual world. Almond suggests that closure is not as important as it seems: we destroy magic and mystery when we pursue the concrete.
"I thought how you could never tell just by looking at them what they were thinking or what was happening in their lives."
Most adults easily judge, classify, condemn, and condone, usually based on what a person looks like. Children, however, can be much more accepting. They do not have entrenched notions and, therefore, can be more open-minded. Michael and Mina's acceptance of Skellig is a testament to that assertion, as is Michael's remarkably empathetic and mature realization here on the bus. He is surrounded by people who are perhaps a bit poor or crazy, but instead of writing them off, he decides that one cannot truly know what they are going through. Michael's empathy is one of his most laudable traits, and it is instructive to readers of all ages.
"Truth and dreams are always getting muddled."
This quote taps into the magical-realist aspects of Almond's novel, for dreams and truth do interweave—and, in that interweaving, they provide hope, counsel, insight, and illumination. Michael dreams constantly, as does Mina. Michael's surreal dreams take things that are happening in "real" life—his sister's sickness, Skellig in the garage, his family, etc.—and reveal Michael's underlying concerns and hopes regarding such things. They tap into his fears, allowing him a release so that, when he wakes, he can endeavor to work for good. Mina's words here also indicate that life is not black and white: sometimes the answers are elusive, but it is better that way. Sometimes magic and mystery are better than "truth."
"We hurried to the door with the red sign: DANGER."
The word "DANGER" is on both the abandoned house and the garage. This symbolizes what adults see as dangerous, and what children see as marvelous or beautiful, despite the presence of flaws. Skellig is associated with first the garage and then with the house, and he is certainly a figure that would frighten or disgust adults. He would be seen as a vagrant or a monster and would be taken away immediately. However, he is neither of those things: it takes compassionate and open-minded children to see that, sometimes, what the world calls "dangerous" is merely misunderstood.
"Nothing else for it. Knock it down and start again."
For much of the novel, Michael does not want the garage to be torn down because Skellig inhabits it. However, once Skellig leaves and Michael's life has righted itself, the garage is no longer necessary. Michael's love and assistance allowed Skellig to improve, and now that the baby has survived her heart surgery and will be coming home, Michael and his parents can embrace their new world. They do not need the rotting, decrepit garage; what they need is a place for the baby to play and for the family to nurture love and support. Critic Susan Louise Stewart sees the garden for which the garage makes way as an allusion to the Garden of Eden, and Michael's earlier picking up of a piece of clay and forming it first into a snake and then a human head as an allusion to his role as creator. This new space is a "fresh start and one with promise and possibility."
