The following are significant quotes and descriptive passages from Worlds Apart, highlighting the themes of mandatory conformity, perceived reality, and personal liberation.
These quotes are primarily from Dr. Filmore, who advocates for the mandatory medication system and the institutional life.
“We all need to take it. You remember why we started doing this. Stress levels got too high in life. We can stay more relaxed without the fear of violent crimes, and it will help all of us live longer.”
“The world has become intolerable, Peter. Once children get out of a protected high school, they start the mandatory medication. When people were getting into the real world before the medication, they were having breaks with reality due to what the world offers now.”
“24/7 work schedules, people afraid to go out and get hit with the rain, no jails, so people are executed for any crime in the street. All this raised our responsibilities of everyday life. One in three people were cracking and sometimes dying from all of this until the medication was put into effect.”
“If you don’t take your medication, you’ll end up like Jay, thrashing around on the floor.”
These passages illustrate Peter Cross’s internal conflict, his sudden perception of the “blurs” the patients see, and his confrontation with Dr. Filmore.
Peter’s Initial Plea: “The medication is wearing me down, doc. I’d like to get off it for a while.”
The Shared Vision: Peter sees the visual phenomena the patients described: “He could see a blur, trails moving around the room’s center. Without fear, he moved to the blur of trails, feeling a hard, cold shiver go through his body as he stood in the spot.”
Peter’s Revelation: “It’s real, Doc. . . These people aren’t sick. They use a part of the brain we don’t.”
Accusing his former mentor: “For the first time, I feel good, I feel real. Now you tell me it’s because I’m crazy.”
Quotes related to Jay and the dystopian setting of the world outside the institution.
Jay’s Warning: “They want you, he is going to contact you.”
The Rain: The public address system warns of the polluted rain: “Rain is coming, go home! Go home! Seek shelter! Rain is coming!”
The Effect of the Rain: Peter witnesses the rapid aging of a woman caught in the polluted rainfall: “Too far to safely reach her, he watched as the woman’s face aged dramatically, her blonde hair morphing to gray… She collapsed to the pavement and turned to dust.”
Jay’s Final Instruction: As Peter is being arrested, Jay frees him from his restraints: “Jay grabbed his arm to stop him for a moment. ‘You are going to do it, man.’ . . . ‘Get out of here.'”
Holographic Exits: “Most of the holograms we placed to make it seem that there is only one way in or out of certain rooms. But as we know, the openings have to legally be there for escape routes in case of a fire.”
Captain Beel on Droids: “They are especially helpful to find people that aren’t on their medication… They sense irregular pulses in people, a fast heartbeat which could only be raised by unmanaged stress.”
