How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"The whole secret of this type of speculation," Tamkin had told him, "is in the alertness. You have to act fast—buy it and sell it; sell it and buy in again. But quick! Get to the window and have them wire Chicago at just the right second. Strike and strike again! Then get out the same day. In no time at all you turn over fifteen, twenty thousand dollars' worth of soy beans, coffee, corn, hides, wheat, cotton." (1.25)
Tamkin is a master of sinister chitchat. Over a game of cards, he plants great and glorious visions of easy money in Wilhelm's mind, and sows the seeds of his scam.
Quote #2
Obviously the doctor understood the market well. Otherwise he would not make it sound so simple. (1.25)
The narrator's voice drips with irony here, and reveals the depths of Wilhelm's gullibility and desperation. Tamkin's talk about the commodities market is obviously bogus, but Wilhelm can't see that because he wants so badly for it to be true.
Quote #3
I think about people, just because they have a few bucks to invest, making fortunes. They have no sense, they have no talent, they just have the extra dough and it makes them more dough. I get so worked up and tormented and restless, so restless! [. . .] With all this money around you don't want to be a fool while everyone else is making. I know guys who make five, ten thousand a week just by fooling around. (1.27)
Tamkin makes it sound as though money is just there for the taking. Remember, if it's too good to be true, then it probably is.
Quote #4
I don't need that sort of money," Wilhelm had said. "But oh! if I could only work out a little steady income from this. Not much. I don't ask much. But how badly I need—! I'd be so grateful if you could show me how to work it." (1.30)
Tamkin's tactics work on Wilhelm perfectly, because they let Wilhelm see himself as occupying a higher moral ground. Wilhelm tells himself that he isn't like those guys who make five or ten thousand a week "just by fooling around": he just wants to make enough to support his sons, and get his wife off his back.
Quote #5
Meanwhile, here were the bills to be paid. When he saw the two sums punched out so neatly on the cards he cursed the company and its IBM equipment. His heart and his head were congested with anger. Everyone was supposed to have money. [. . .] In the old days a man was put in prison for debt, but there were subtler things now. They made it a shame not to have money and set everybody to work. (2.23)
Not only does Wilhelm feel that his father looks down on him for being a financial failure, he also senses that American culture at large wants him to feel ashamed for being broke. This shame, he figures, is one of the great motivators that keeps the whole system running.
Quote #6
How they love money, thought Wilhelm. They adore money! Holy money! Beautiful money! It was getting so that people were feeble-minded about everything except money. While if you didn't have it you were a dummy, a dummy! You had to excuse yourself from the face of the earth. (2.59)
You can say one thing for Wilhelm: he may agonize and complain 24/7, but at least he does it with a sense of humor.
Quote #7
He thought, The money! When I had it, I flowed money. They bled it away from me. I hemorrhaged money. But now it's almost all gone, and where am I supposed to turn for more? (2.77)
It's a measure of Wilhelm's self-indulgence and self-deception that he never seriously considers returning to work for the Rojax Corporation. He would rather risk losing the last of his savings in a gamble than lose face in front of his former employers. Sounds like somebody needs to swallow his pride.
Quote #8
Whenever she can hit me, she hits, and she seems to live for that alone. And she demands more and more, and still more. Two years ago she wanted to go back to college and get another degree. It increased my burden but I thought it would be wiser in the end if she got a better job through it. But still she takes as much from me as before. Next thing she'll want to be a doctor of philosophy. She says the women in her family live long, and I'll have to pay and pay for the rest of my life. (3.46)
Throughout the novel, Wilhelm's wife, Margaret, is depicted as a greedy, endlessly grasping shrew who's out to ruin Wilhelm and devour all of his money. Um, hello—hasn't he ever seen how cute shrews are in real life? What do you think? Is Margaret really after Wilhelm's wealth (or what's left of it, anyway), or is she only trying to get what's hers?
Quote #9
His father said, "I can't give you any money. There would be no end to it if I started. You and your sister would take every last buck from me. I'm still alive, not dead. I am still here. Life isn't over yet. I am as much alive as you or anyone. And I want nobody on my back. Get off! And I give you the same advice, Wilky. Carry nobody on your back." (3.104)
What's the deal with Dr. Adler? Is he really just a cranky old Ebenezer Scrooge, or is he right to protect himself from his son's bumbling, money-grabbing ways?
Quote #10
Fifteen grand, though, isn't too much for a man of your intelligence to ask out of life. Fools, hard-hearted criminals, and murderers have millions to squander. They burn up the world—oil, coal, wood, metal, and soil, and suck even the air and the sky. They consume, and they give back no benefits. (5.20)
Tamkin likes to make Wilhelm feel that he deserves the (imaginary) fortune that's coming to him, but is he being honest? When Wilhelm had money of his own, did he use it to do good, or was he just like those others who burn up the world, and give nothing back?