How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"You guys are both freaks. Look at you. How much to you weigh? […]
I bet you weigh two hundred and fifty. You're huge." (1.28, 30)
And thus is Henry's assessment of Jason. And yet he goes ahead and punches him without warning about 1.7 seconds later. Interesting choice.
Quote #2
Say you were walking down the street at night and you ran into me and Shin. Here is what you would see: two figures, dark and menacing. One is large-bodied, hulking, and neckless. That would be me. […] I'm the one with fat lips, freckles, and twelve dark hairs growing between my eyebrows. Like I'm half ape. […] Just think of me as the big, fat, pouty one. (1.42-43)
If you had only this to go by, would you say that Jason likes himself?
Quote #3
If you are extremely observant, you will notice that Shin and I are the same height. Most people think I am taller, but I'm not. I'm just bigger. (1.42)
How does Jason know what "most people think"? Do you think maybe Jason just thinks they think this? We're definitely guilty of making those sorts of assumptions.
Quote #4
Magda Price is what my grandmother would call "cute as a button," whatever that means. […] The only thing wrong with her is she's kind of small. Not Munchkin small, but close. Definitely too small to be interested in a hulking, neckless creature such as myself. (3.28)
So size is relative. Magda isn't too small objectively, but Jason thinks she's too small to like a "hulking, neckless creature" such as himself. We think he should let Magda make that decision for herself.
Quote #5
Even the way he looks is ordinary. One time for a computer project I scanned a whole bunch of student photos from the yearbook, then used a graphics program to morph them into a single face. What I got looked like a slightly fuzzy version of Dan Grant. (5.1-2)
This doesn't seem very flattering. But is there anything wrong with being ordinary? And is there even such thing?
Quote #6
[Magda] is wearing the official Wigglesworth Juiceteria uniform: a tight pink T-shirt with Juicy! printed across the front in lime-green script. On her it looks good. (7.5)
We're thinking that Jason would say a cardboard box would look good on Magda.
Quote #7
Magda wrinkles her forehead. For some reason it makes her look extra sexy. Not that she needs it. (7.10)
Oh, right—that kind of extra-sexy wrinkle. You know someone really likes someone else when they think the way their forehead wrinkles is sexy.
Quote #8
[Shin] must be channeling a character from some video game. Probably seeing Magda Price as a collection of pixels. We all have our coping strategies. (7.41)
We think this begs the question: what is Jason's coping strategy for talking to girls?
Quote #9
[Shin] strips out of his pajamas. I can't believe how skinny the guy is. You can count his ribs. (13.70)
Would Shin seem as vulnerable, sad, and broken if he were 6'2" and 180lbs? Does he have to look like this for us to pity him as readers? You decide.
Quote #10
Looking down at Henry, I wonder what Magda can possibly see in this skinny little guy on crutches. […] I can hardly believe that, just a few weeks ago, I was afraid of him. There are plenty of scarier things in this world scarier than Henry Stagg's knobby fists, especially to an oversize, leather-skinned mountain troll such as myself. (31.27)
Yeah, we wonder what Magda sees in him, too.