How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Maybe it will be like it was when I was younger. Maybe again he'll teach in Europe every summer and we'll go with him like we used to. Oh those were the fun, fun times! I'm going to start on a diet this very day. I will be a positively different person by the time we get to our new home, Not one more bite of chocolate or nary a French fried potato will pass my lips till I've lost ten globby pounds of lumpy lard. And I'm going to make a completely new wardrobe. (6.1)
This is the kind of positive thinking that only brings disappointment. Seems counter-intuitive, right? But do you think Alice is really capable of being a whole new person, with a whole new wardrobe, who can avoid chocolate and fries forever and ever? Even people with colossal willpower can't always pull that off. But we give Alice points for trying.
Quote #2
He even said he was a little frightened and lonely about going away by himself for the first time, and he told me how he wanted to become an aeronautical engineer and work on new techniques for air travel. He's got some wonderful ideas! It's almost like reading Jules Verne, and he has so many plans for his life, with the Army and all. (57.3)
This is the time in their lives to make those kinds of plans. Aspirations of grandeur and lofty goals are the benchmarks of adolescence; everyone thinks they'll grow up and change the world.
Quote #3
Chris and I are about ready to cut out. She has a friend in San Francisco who could help us get a job, and since we've both had experience in a boutique it shouldn't be that hard. (74.3)
This is quite the plan. They have less than a year of experience combined, they've never lived on their own, and they are relying on a friend to get them a job. Keep dreaming, girls, because this is fantasy.
Quote #4
He's going into medicine, and I've got to help him any way I can. It's going to be a long hard pull but we'll make it. Imagine eight or ten more years of school for him—and he's already in his second year of college! […] As soon as I'm out of high school I'll get a full time job and we'll settle down. (77.2)
Alice gets ahead of herself sometimes. Richie is using her as his personal drug mule, and Alice is ready for a white picket fence and two and a half kids. (Have you ever wondered about the half? Which half is it?) Not to mention she just casually tosses aside her plans to go to college so she can support her future druggie doctor hubby.
Quote #5
I took a job in some crappy little lingerie store. It doesn't pay much, but at least it will keep us in groceries, etc. Chris will keep looking for a better job and after she gets one then I will quit and look for something a little more challenging. Chris hopes that maybe in a year we can open our own boutique. Wouldn't that be wonderful? And maybe when we're very successful we can invite our families to come and see us and glory in our success. (86.1)
It's nice that Alice can remain so optimistic in the face of adversity, but one of her biggest problems has to do with her grip on reality. Snap out of it, girl.
Quote #6
I think maybe we'll stay in this apartment for another six months or so then we'll probably have enough money to start on our own. I hope Shelia will give us her blessings and help us. Maybe Mr. Mellani will let us handle some of his cheaper things too. Mario is going to come work in the shop as soon as he graduates from high school, so maybe they wouldn't need me anyway. (98.1)
This plan sounds a little more attainable, although it also seems to have a lot of variables they'll need to go right for success. We also can't help but notice how much easier it must've been to start a business in 1971. She would only have to save for six months? Wow.
Quote #7
We're going to do all sorts of mad things, like covering the old worn tabletops with felt, which is cheap, and putting fake leopard on the chairs and on part of one wall if we can afford it. It will be good to have a place to call home again and this one we'll fix up to look loved and lived in. (106.1)
This sounds like Cruella de Vil's tropical cousin's idea of interior decorating.
Quote #8
Tonight will ring in a wonderful new year for me. How humbly grateful I am to be rid of the old one. […] But the new year is going to be different, filled with life and promise. (124.1)
We really should applaud Alice's eternal optimism, but her faith in new beginnings hasn't served her so well in the past. She seems to think that she can pick an arbitrary point in time and just start from scratch—but by refusing to acknowledge her past, she's doomed to repeat it.
Quote #9
I think I'll go into child guidance when I get out of school. Or maybe I should become a psychologist. […] Oh dear wonderful, trusting, friendly Diary, that's exactly what I'll do. I'll spend the rest of my life helping people who are just like me! I feel so good and happy. I finally have something to do for the rest of my life. Wow! I'm done with drugs too. (169.7)
This is a great dream for Alice to have—it doesn't rely on pretending her past didn't happen, and it's not some wild fantasy either. Yay. She's finally getting a grip on reality.