How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
(I have dreams, unpleasant dreams, that relate, I think, to my wanting to speak at a company convention, and they are always dreams that involve bitter frustration and humiliation and insurmountable difficulty in getting from one location to another.) (2.50)
Slocum wants nothing more than to speak at the company convention, and Green always prevents him from doing this. This is seemingly one of his worst fears come true, that of being humiliated by another person of higher rank.
Quote #2
I don't like to lose touch with consciousness entirely. Dreams, even very bad, weird dreams, are my only contact with reality when I sleep; I want them; I even welcome headaches at night; I am out of existence. Where am I, then, when I am not? (4.75)
Slocum does not sleep well, but he welcomes dreams, even the bad ones. He questions what happens to him when he is not conscious, or when he is not feeling himself. Where does he go? Where has he been? Who watches over him when he is gone to make sure that he gets back?
Quote #3
And I also feel that some of my other dreams may be heterosexual, and I do know why. I am chasing and pumping away with girls in those dreams and almost get there, almost get all the way in, but never do. I never even come. They always break off unfinished. Is it my mother? Nude and cooperative? And know also that much of my waking life is composed of defenses against behavior I am not aware of and would find difficult to justify. Why do I feel like crying so often and why do I refuse to let myself do so…ever? (5.59)
Slocum's dreams and nightmares haunt his waking life, and he hopes that none of the inhibitions that he bottles up inside of him ever come out. He worries that if the real Slocum ever got out, he may say and do things to embarrass himself.
Quote #4
In my middle years, I have exchanged the position of the fetus for the position of a corpse. (5.189)
Reality has become macabre for Slocum. He substitutes images of life for those of death, and in an eerie way, he seems somewhat comforted by this.
Quote #5
I know at last what I want to be when I grow up.
When I grow up I want to be a little boy. (5.83-84)
Slocum wants another chance, and then another, and perhaps even a few more after that. He claims that when he grows up, he wants to be someone who is dignified, tasteful, and important—and who enjoys what he does. Like William Shakespeare. Huh? Yup, that's what he says.
Quote #6
"Mr. ______, your boy is lying on the floor of the living room and hasn't breathed for fifteen seconds."
That was precisely the way the words were floated to me in my dream or beclouded waking moments. (5.199)
Slocum's dreams occasionally tear at him. They transform into nightmares that he could never bear to see become reality—although that's exactly what they do.
Quote #7
I see no future for my boy (the veil won't lift, I don't get a glimmer, I see no future for him at all) and this is always a heart-stopping omen. When I look ahead, he isn't there. (6.63)
Slocum can't envision his son aging past nine. He seems to be stuck in time, with every day being his last. That turns out to be a prophetic thought for Slocum. Does he actually what is going to happen? Or does his fear somehow make disaster happen? Or it is all just chance?
Quote #8
My id suppurates into my ego and makes me aggressive and disagreeable. Seepage is destroying my loved ones. (6.70)
Slocum feels a loss of control over his emotions, and he fears his subconscious desires will eclipse reality. He can restrain himself from saying what he wants and acting upon how he feels, but he finds it difficult to suppress the need to want to.
Quote #9
I'd like to be able to photograph all my dreams with a motion picture camera and nail the guilty bastards in them dead to rights. I'd have the evidence. I'd like to wiretap their thoughts. I'd like to photograph their dreams to find out what's going on in their minds while they are going around at liberty in mine. (6.83)
Okay, maybe he's losing it a bit. Slocum's dreams seem to be eclipsing reality, for now he's talking about wiretapping the thoughts of others when they dream. He mistakenly believes that others are listening in on his dreams, but in reality, we know that's just not possible.