Previous
Princess of Pure Reason
The Soundkeeper lives in a fortress in the Valley of Sound and used to manufacture all sounds people needed. She’d then catalogue all sounds in her vast sound library. But, after people in the Valley of Sound moved to cities and stopped appreciating her beautiful sounds as much, Dr. Dischord “cured” them and made it so they couldn’t hear beautiful sounds anymore. In retaliation, the Soundkeeper decided to keep all sounds for herself. When Milo meets her, he discovers that while there’s no sound elsewhere in the Valley of Sound, the Soundkeeper herself can speak and even wears clothes with small bells and chimes sewn on. She initially tells Milo that she believes she did the right thing to take sound away from people if they weren’t going to appreciate the beautiful ones. But when Milo helps the valley’s residents knock down the fortress and release sounds, the Soundkeeper admits that she was wrong to do this. She sends Milo with a gift: a package of sounds that includes many laughs. Later, the laughs make it so that, in the Mountains of Ignorance, the Official Senses Taker can’t steal Milo’s sense of humor.
The Soundkeeper Quotes in The Phantom Tollbooth
The The Phantom Tollbooth quotes below are all either spoken by The Soundkeeper or refer to The Soundkeeper. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 12. The Silent Valley
Quotes
“Slowly at first, and then in a rush, more people came to settle here and brought with them new ways and new sounds, some very beautiful and some less so. But everyone was so busy with the things that had to be done that they scarcely had time to listen at all. And, as you know, a sound which is not heard disappears forever and is not to be found again.
“People laughed less and grumbled more, sang less and shouted more, and the sounds they made grew louder and uglier. It became difficult to hear even the birds or the breeze, and soon everyone stopped listening for them.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“It doesn’t make me happy to hold back the sounds,” she began softly, “for if we listen to them carefully they can sometimes tell us things far better than words.”
“But if that is so,” asked Milo—and he had no doubt that it was—“shouldn’t you release them?”
“NEVER!” she cried. “They just use them to make horrible noises which are ugly to see and worse to hear. I leave all that to Dr. Dischord and that awful, awful DYNNE.”
“But some noises are good sounds, aren’t they?” he insisted.
“That may be true,” she replied stubbornly, “but if they won’t make the sounds that I like, they won’t make any.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13. Unfortunate Conclusions
Quotes
“But it’s all my fault. For you can’t improve sound by having only silence. The problem is to use each at the proper time.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Phantom Tollbooth LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Soundkeeper Quotes in The Phantom Tollbooth
The The Phantom Tollbooth quotes below are all either spoken by The Soundkeeper or refer to The Soundkeeper. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 12. The Silent Valley
Quotes
“Slowly at first, and then in a rush, more people came to settle here and brought with them new ways and new sounds, some very beautiful and some less so. But everyone was so busy with the things that had to be done that they scarcely had time to listen at all. And, as you know, a sound which is not heard disappears forever and is not to be found again.
“People laughed less and grumbled more, sang less and shouted more, and the sounds they made grew louder and uglier. It became difficult to hear even the birds or the breeze, and soon everyone stopped listening for them.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“It doesn’t make me happy to hold back the sounds,” she began softly, “for if we listen to them carefully they can sometimes tell us things far better than words.”
“But if that is so,” asked Milo—and he had no doubt that it was—“shouldn’t you release them?”
“NEVER!” she cried. “They just use them to make horrible noises which are ugly to see and worse to hear. I leave all that to Dr. Dischord and that awful, awful DYNNE.”
“But some noises are good sounds, aren’t they?” he insisted.
“That may be true,” she replied stubbornly, “but if they won’t make the sounds that I like, they won’t make any.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13. Unfortunate Conclusions
Quotes
“But it’s all my fault. For you can’t improve sound by having only silence. The problem is to use each at the proper time.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
