Previous Next

"He'd been so foolish ever to think that he could build a life here. There was no straddling the line; he knew that now. No stepping back and forth between two worlds, no seeing and not seeing, no holding a hand over one eye or the other like a child playing a game. You were either a part of this institution, one of the bricks that held it up, or you weren’t."

In Chapter 25, Robin finally confronts the difficult truth that it had been naive to think he could ever belong at Oxford. This quote is the culmination of an internal battle that begins the moment Professor Lovell abducts Robin from Canton and brings him to England. For years, Robin tried to justify his complicity, often opting to look away at times when it was easier to pretend that he did not see than to admit that he did. Here, Robin finally resolves his ongoing debate between Babel and Hermes, realizing that it was wrong to ever consider Babel as a viable future and it was immoral to turn a blind eye to injustice. Robin comes to understand that he could never really have a life at Oxford; he could become a cog in the machine to serve the University, but he would never truly belong.

Previous section Famous Quotes Explained Page 2 Next section Famous Quotes Explained Page 4

Take a Study Break