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Lydia Rose
Vernon Rose is Alicia’s father and Lydia Rose’s brother. Vernon was deeply devoted to his wife Eva, Alicia’s mother—and when Eva killed herself, Vernon told Alicia that he wished she had died instead. To both Alicia and Theo, Vernon’s cruelty is a kind of “psychic infanticide”; Theo sees a direct line between Vernon’s emotional abuse and Alicia’s later murder of Gabriel. For the rest of her life, Alicia openly “hates” her father, so much so that after his death she experiences a kind of psychotic break. Vernon embodies Theo’s belief that “we are shared and completed by unseen, unremembered forces; namely, our parents.”
Vernon Rose Quotes in The Silent Patient
The The Silent Patient quotes below are all either spoken by Vernon Rose or refer to Vernon Rose. 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:
).
Part 4, Chapter 8
Quotes
“[Vernon] was a mean bastard. The only person he ever cared about was Auntie Eva. I suppose that’s why he said it.”
“Said what?” I was losing patience. “I don’t understand what you’re saying to me. What exactly happened?”
“Vernon was going on about how much he loved Eva—how he couldn’t live without her. ‘My girl, he kept saying, ‘my poor girl, my Eva…Why did she have to die? Why did it have to be her? Why didn’t Alicia die instead?’”
[…] “And Alicia whispered something to me—I’ll never forget it. ‘He killed me,’ she said. ‘Dad just—killed me.’”
I stared at Paul, speechless. A chorus of bells started ringing in my head, clanging, chiming, reverberating. This is what I’ve been looking for. I’d found it, the missing piece of the jigsaw, at last.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 5, Chapter 1
Quotes
I wish I could say I struck a blow for the defeated—that I was standing up for the betrayed and brokenhearted—that Gabriel had a tyrant’s eyes, my father’s eyes. But I’m past lying now. The truth is Gabriel had my eyes, suddenly—and I had his. Somewhere along the way we had swapped places.
I saw it now. I would never be safe. Never be loved. All my hopes, dashed—all my dreams, shattered—leaving nothing, nothing. My father was right—I didn’t deserve to live. I was—nothing. That’s what Gabriel did to me.
That’s the truth. I didn’t kill Gabriel. He killed me.
All I did was pull the trigger.
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Vernon Rose Quotes in The Silent Patient
The The Silent Patient quotes below are all either spoken by Vernon Rose or refer to Vernon Rose. 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:
).
Part 4, Chapter 8
Quotes
“[Vernon] was a mean bastard. The only person he ever cared about was Auntie Eva. I suppose that’s why he said it.”
“Said what?” I was losing patience. “I don’t understand what you’re saying to me. What exactly happened?”
“Vernon was going on about how much he loved Eva—how he couldn’t live without her. ‘My girl, he kept saying, ‘my poor girl, my Eva…Why did she have to die? Why did it have to be her? Why didn’t Alicia die instead?’”
[…] “And Alicia whispered something to me—I’ll never forget it. ‘He killed me,’ she said. ‘Dad just—killed me.’”
I stared at Paul, speechless. A chorus of bells started ringing in my head, clanging, chiming, reverberating. This is what I’ve been looking for. I’d found it, the missing piece of the jigsaw, at last.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 5, Chapter 1
Quotes
I wish I could say I struck a blow for the defeated—that I was standing up for the betrayed and brokenhearted—that Gabriel had a tyrant’s eyes, my father’s eyes. But I’m past lying now. The truth is Gabriel had my eyes, suddenly—and I had his. Somewhere along the way we had swapped places.
I saw it now. I would never be safe. Never be loved. All my hopes, dashed—all my dreams, shattered—leaving nothing, nothing. My father was right—I didn’t deserve to live. I was—nothing. That’s what Gabriel did to me.
That’s the truth. I didn’t kill Gabriel. He killed me.
All I did was pull the trigger.
