How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I thought I would like to do that, have a regular job and kid around with people I met. (1.63)
Reese isn't exactly a hardened criminal. He longs for a normal life.
Quote #2
"That was a facility reform committee," he said. "They've got some good ideas, but they'll never come about." (4.42)
Mr. Cintron doesn't seem to have a lot of hope for prison reform. People have good ideas, but it's hard to get them implemented since the powers that be don't have much faith in the prison population.
Quote #3
Sometimes I dreamed about Mom and me and Willis and Icy living somewhere together, maybe in Queens, next to the park. It was a good dream when it started, but it never ended up good. Never. (6.10)
Reese's family life is so troubled that even his dreams for a happy home end badly. Dang, that's harsh—even his dreams turn into nightmares.
Quote #4
"Hillary Clinton is not going to be the president, so that leaves the door open for me to become the first woman president," Icy said. (8.38)
Icy, Reese's little sister, is an ambitious little girl with big dreams for the future. Her enthusiasm is infectious—Reese wants that life for her so much that he wants to straighten up and help her achieve her goals.
Quote #5
I knew it was all good on paper, but in real life it didn't go nowhere. In a way all the programs were alike. If everything worked out perfectly, you should be doing okay. But the deal was that you were going back into the same hole you had slid down before. (11.5)
Like Mr. Cintron, Reese doesn't have a lot of faith in the system. The things that sound like good plans never work out well in real life; people end up right back where they started.
Quote #6
I was thinking about you and me opening a business. Maybe we could open a grocery store and be like the kind of guys who everybody in the neighborhood looked up to. (14.13)
Even though he's in prison and his brother has been shot, Reese sometimes dreams about the future. He isn't hopeless—at least, not yet. Consider our fingers crossed.
Quote #7
Yo, Reese, when you get out we should maybe work for a year and then buy a car. We could have a gypsy cab business. […] I'm not too hopeful about the scholarship anymore. (19.9)
Reese's friend Kenneth is smart and great at basketball, but he feels less and less hopeful about college by the day. Why do you think this is? What forces are working against him?
Quote #8
King Kong, he would go back to swinging on trees and climbing up buildings and being stupid, because sometimes settling for stupid was easier than reaching for anything better. If you gave him a free bus pass, he couldn't get nowhere because there wasn't anyplace for him to get to. (21.11)
Compared to Reese, King Kong has a decided lack of ambition. Being ambitious is harder than just settling for what you have—it involves rolling up your sleeves and refusing to settle.
Quote #9
"I probably won't be able go to go college."
"Why not?" I asked.
"I don't know," Icy said.
"Not a lot of people from our block go to college."
"You're going," I said. "I'll pay for it." (28.35-28.39)
In the tough neighborhood where Reese is from, it's easy for dreams to die. But he wants to nurture his little sister's ambition, so he promises he'll pay for her college. Now they both have missions to complete.
Quote #10
The longer I stay out of trouble, the more I'm beginning to believe in myself, too. It's like, okay, something good could happen. (35.12)
Reese is slowly starting to let himself have hope for the future. Each day that passes leaves him with a little bit more hope that things can get—and stay—better.