And if you couldn't be loved, the next best thing was to be let alone.

The line expresses a bleak hierarchy of human needs: love is the ideal, but if love is unattainable, simple non-interference—being “let alone”—is preferable to hostility, pity, or coercive attention. It suggests that unwanted scrutiny and emotional demands can be more painful than solitude, and that dignity sometimes lies in the right to privacy. Montgomery often writes with sensitivity about social exclusion and the inner lives of those who feel misunderstood; this sentiment captures the defensive consolation of someone who has learned to expect disappointment and therefore values peace over performative or conditional affection.