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"He'd had a nightmare. The nightmare. The one he'd been having a lot lately. The one with darkness and the wind and the screaming. The one with the hands slipping from his grasp, no matter how hard he tried to hold on."

This quote is the very beginning of the story and it is important because it reveals that the character Conor is having continuous nightmares. This shows that Conor cannot get away from something that is scary for him to face.

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"You know that is not true, the monster said. You know that your truth, the one that you hide, Conor O'Malley, is the thing you are most afraid of."

In this quote, Conor is talking to a monster that is telling him that Conor must tell him about his nightmare. This is important because we realize the monster that Conor is talking to is not the nightmare that he has been having. It leads readers to wonder what the nightmare really could be about. This quote also reveals Conor's character a bit because it shows that he doesn't want to accept the truth about how he feels, or about what is occurring in his life. He doesn't want to face the reality of his mother's illness.

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"And then she groaned, deep in her chest, her mouth still closed. It was a sound so painful, Conor could barely keep himself from putting his hands over his ears."

This quote shows that Conor can't bare to see his mother in a lot of pain. He puts his hands over his ears because he wants to drown out the painful sound so that a part of him can keep pretending that nothing is wrong. He is avoiding dealing with reality.

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"Conor O'Malley," he said, his voice growing poisonous now. "Who everyone's sorry for because of his mum. Who swans around school acting like he's so different, like no one knows his suffering."

A kid from school named Harry says this to Conor. It is an important part of the story because it shows that Harry thinks Conor acts like he's the only one in the world who understands suffering. This shows readers that even though Conor tries to ignore the reality of his mom's illness, those around him aren't doing the same. This also tells us something about Harry, who is a kind of mean bully to Conor. It might give us some understanding of why Harry is mean. Harry may have experienced some kind of suffering, too, which has made him act this way.

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"I can't stand it anymore!" he cried out as the fire raged around him. "I can't stand knowing that she'll go! I just want it to be over! I want it to be finished!" And then the fire ate the world, wiping away everything, wiping him away with it. He welcomed it with relief, because it was, at last, the punishment he deserved."

This quote is very important in the story because it shows that Conor is finally accepting the truth that his mother is going to die. Although he knew this already, he wanted to pretend like it wasn't happening or affecting him. Readers finally learn Conor's truth, which is that he secretly was wishing for his mother's death to come quickly, because he didn't want to keep living with the pain of her slowly dying. Conor thinks he deserves punishment because he would rather his mom die quickly than having to live every day knowing she might die at anytime. This is hard for Conor to admit to himself because it makes him feel ashamed. He doesn't want to let his mom go, but he knows he has to.