Part 4: Quotes

Quotations from Lockdown

"Beneath heaven is hell. Beneath hell is Furnace."

The above quotation is on the title page of the book and gives an initial impression of what the book is about. It sets the tone for the book as a whole. 

When the reader compares Heaven to Hell, they would see a huge difference. The author is trying to impress that the Furnace is much worse than Hell. Readers understand what Hell is and by comparing Hell to Furnace, the reader gets an understanding as to how awful the Furnace is. The Bible describes Hell, and it doesn't sound as bad as the Furnace.

“I can tell you the exact moment that my life went to hell." 

These are the opening words for the book and they provide a significant amount of insight of the things to come. The words set the stage for the first part of the book. The words indicate that something significant is about to happen and help create a tone that brings suspense and terror to the reader.

Using a quotation like this is helpful in setting up the tone and foreshadowing events. When I am trying to be dramatic in my own life and about to tell a story, I will have an opening line similar to this so that people can feel what I am about to say. Even in the news, news reporters will use those words "the exact moment" something happened to set-up the story.

“This place is full of unwritten rules.” 

When Alex arrives at the Furnace he needs to learn the rules. There are written or stated rules and then there are the 'unwritten rules'. Just like when I arrived in Grade 6 at John G. Althouse, there were the written rules to abide by and then there were the unwritten ones, like don't mess with the grade 8'ers or you can sit at this lunch table but not at that one. Alex learns these unwritten rules for the Furnace, like don't mess with the Skulls and what their territory is.

This quote describes Alex's first few days in the Furnace and is important to the novel because Alex needs to learn how to get by in the Furnace. Just like any prisoner entering jail, there is always unwritten rules, like pecking orders to deal with. 

"If they catch you, just don't forget your name."

Alex gets caught by Moleface as he is trying to escape with the other inmates. Unbelievably, a Blacksuit pulls Moleface off Alex so that Alex can make his escape. The Blacksuit says to Alex, "If they catch you, just don't forget your name." Alex realizes that the Blacksuit is Monty. Apparently when you turn into a Blacksuit, if you can remember your name you manage to retain some of your memories or character of who you were.

Throughout the book, the reader is hopeful that somehow Alex will escape from the horrors of the Furnace. This quote provides this hope, as does Monty's actions. Monty's actions of pulling Moleface off Alex gives hope to Alex that he will actually escape the Furnace. The quote also provides hope that if Alex does get caught, he can somehow retain some identity.