[Responding to Jack Slash, having been asked whether his mother (Purity) loves him or likes him, and what the difference is. Theo explains why Purity likes him but will never love him. Shaky, confronted, truthful]

"I- I take care of Aster for her. I do my chores, I don't talk back. I don't make life harder for her," Theo began. He swallowed, "but my dad treated her badly, and I think she sees him when she looks at me, and she'll never let herself love me because of that." She has to look past the doughy face to see Dad in me, past the baby fat I never seemed to lose, but I have his genes, I look like him, beneath it all. (11.b)

[Showing immense courage, says to Jack Slash that he would kill him if he had the chance]

"People like you? I'd kill. Sir.

[After a time skip, slightly deeper voice, expressing concern for just how easily Jack Slash and the Slaughterhouse 9 murdered hundreds of people]

"Right here, in this dinky little ski resort, he murdered a few hundred people, just as a warm-up. How many people on the periphery of it all are affected? How many people across America, across the world, know people in Killington? Or know the people in this town?" (26.1)