How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #1
"Word came in she was dying. They let me go home with a cop. There wasn't anything the matter with her. She wouldn't talk at all. She was a Catholic, only my old man wouldn't let her go to church. He hated churches. She just stared at me. I asked her if she wanted a priest, but she didn't answer me, just stared. 'Bout four o' clock in the morning she died. Didn't seem like dying at all. [...] I guess she just didn't want to live. I guess she didn't care if she went to hell, either." (7)
Jim recalls his mother's incredibly sad death in response to Harry Nilson's questions about his family. It's a little more than the Party worker was looking for, but it does tell us a lot about Jim's home situation and the origin of his desire to have purpose in his life. Jim's mother lost her reason for living and gave in to the despair that pressed in on her from many sides. Jim will repeat the story of his mother's death several times throughout the book, citing it as the motivating factor for his work with the Party.
Quote #2
"You look half drunk, Jim. What's the matter with you?"
"I don't know. I feel dead. Everything in the past is gone. I checked out of my rooming house before I came here. I still had a week paid for. I don't want to go back to any of it again. I want to be finished with it." (8)
Nilson can't put his finger on what's wrong with Jim when he first meets him. That's because he knows so little of Jim's miserable backstory. At this point, Jim is so far down, he doesn't know if he can ever rally again, but it quickly becomes evident that his desire to join the Party is his very last hope for survival. His inclusion in this group gives him a purpose and the sense that his life has some value—even if its primary value lies in his willingness to give it up for the cause.
Quote #3
"Did you ever work at a job where, when you got enough skill to get a raise in pay, you were fired and a new man put in? Did you ever work in a place where they talked about loyalty to the firm, and loyalty meant spying on the people around you? Hell, I've got nothing to lose." (10)
Jim has just described the most common misery of the working person in a nutshell. His experience of life has taught him that he cannot win—there's no beating the system as it stands. If he has any hope of clawing his way out of his deadness, it lies in the opportunity to use his skills to change the big picture for the worker, to even out the imbalance of power.