The Future of Us Identity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Chapter, Paragraph

Quote #1

I don't know what Harry Potter or The Help are, but Josh gave me Tuck Everlasting for my eleventh birthday. The boat gets stuck in a tangle of roots and Tuck explains how the water rushing by is like time flowing on without them. Reading those words made me feel deep and philosophical. (3.21)

Emma is describing why she loves Tuck Everlasting, one of her favorite books. She remembers a certain scene that she felt was very moving and powerful—and this feeling makes her identity herself as "deep and philosophical."

Quote #2

Nothing about me feels sexy right now. Maybe I'm just tired from last night. Or maybe it's because I can't stop thinking about Emma Nelson Jones, and whether I really become an unhappy person with a husband who doesn't come home. (11.19)

Emma is waging an inner war here. There's nothing that she feels inside that matches the attention that she's getting from her boyfriend right now, and it irritates her. She's also bothered because she's found out that her future identity is anything but what she would have expected. Or wanted.

Quote #3

I'll have a fancy graphic-design job, and I'll probably drive a nice car, too. A BMW or, since we'll be out in the country, a Chevy Tahoe. Or both! In fifteen years, maybe I'll drive something so insane I can't even imagine it now. (28.4)

Here we see what Josh looks for in his future identity: fancy things. And though he doesn't have any of this yet, it still tells us something about who Josh is, and how he hopes to be in the world.