Quote 4
And then Father nodded and he didn't say anything for a short while. Then he said, "Thank you."
And I said, "What for?"
And he said, "Just... thank you. Then he said, "I'm very proud of you, Christopher. Very proud." (233.125-27)
Christopher's father's speechlessness here manages to express his love for his son more than any of his agonized pleas earlier on in the book. Like Christopher's beautiful image of his mother's ashes, the book's most profound words about love don't include the word "love" at all. It's funny how that works sometimes.
Quote 5
"OK, maybe I don't tell the truth all the time. God knows, I try, Christopher, God knows I do, but... Life is difficult, you know. It's bloody hard telling the truth all the time. Sometimes it's impossible. And I want to know that I'm trying, I really am. And perhaps this is not a very good time to say this, and I know you're not going to like it, but... You have to know that I am going to tell you the truth from now on. About everything. Because... if you don't tell the truth now, then later on... later on it hurts even more. So..." (167.16)
This is a pretty moving speech from Christopher's father. We feel for him – we really do. We feel kind of bad dissecting his logic but, hey, that's our job. We're definitely with him about it being "bloody hard" to tell the truth all the time. Like when your friend offers to cook you dinner, but you know she's not exactly the best "chef." You don't want to hurt her feelings, so you tell her you have plans to go out for pizza with your parents. We know, it's okay. Heck, Christopher even has to find ways around telling the whole truth. Really, telling the whole truth all the time might be "impossible." But then how can he turn around and promise he'll always tell the truth from then on? What evidence does he have that it's somehow going to get easier in the future?