How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"We just gonna chill. We might try to find a party, or we might just finish off them beers and let the party find us. Then I'm headin' over to Keisha's house, after I take these turkeys home." (2.28)
If we had to guess, we'd say that every single guy in the car that night would change the decisions they made post-game.
Quote #2
Is it my fault that Robbie is dead? I wasn't drivin'. I wasn't even drinkin'. (5.2)
B.J. questions his choices, too, even though he wasn't drinking. It's not just the alcohol that caused the accident, but that fact that he didn't say anything to his buddies about it. Perhaps if he made different choices, his friend would still be alive.
Quote #3
"We ran around to that side but the door was bent shut and we couldn't get it open. All of us was screamin' by that time, 'cause we could see his feet stickin' through the windshield. His legs was cut and bleedin' really bad. All we could see was these brand-new Nikes stickin' out the window, with the rest of Rob screamin' and hollerin', stuck inside." (5.5)
We already know how Robbie dies, and what leads to it, but Draper doesn't let us off that easily—we get to hear the specifics of what their decisions caused, complete with gory details, so it's as though we live through the event with the boys, too.
Quote #4
"From what I hear, you have your share of guts and courage too. Without you, the other boys may have been injured much more than they were. Wasn't it you that helped get Tyrone and B.J. out of the car?" (7.25)
Even though Andy blames himself for Robbie's death, Coach Ripley reminds him that he helped the other guys, too. If we let our bad choices define us, then we don't have an opportunity to let the good ones define us, too.
Quote #5
"It's all your fault, you know. All your fault. You got the beer. You drove the car. You smashed into the wall. You killed me. And now you gotta come and keep me company." (21.64)
In his dream, Andy imagines Rob saying this to him. Do you think it helps Andy to imagine what Robbie would tell him, or does it only make things worse?
Quote #6
So, instead of writing, "I'm sorry about what happened" 6,000 times on a sheet of notebook paper (like the teachers used to make us do in elementary school when we were bad), I decided to write you this letter to help you remember the good stuff, instead of the bad. (22.1)
Andy's letter to Robbie's parents is super sad because it gets right to the heart of the matter: He knows he can't change his choices; he knows nothing will alter the past. But he wants to tell them how much their son meant to him nonetheless.
Quote #7
College scouts? And I missed 'em? My dad makes me sick. It's all his fault. I'll never get a scholarship now. When they see my low grades, all my absences , and my police record, they'll break their necks runnin' away… I don't care. I don't care. (36.22)
Here, Andy begins to question his choices in life. He realizes that he doesn't have many options left because of the choices he's made to skip school and not study for months. He's gotten himself into a situation that he doesn't know the way out of.
Quote #8
It's not that I want to die—it's just that I can't stand the pain of livin' anymore. I just want the hurt and pain inside to go away. It's like a monster in my gut—eatin' me up from the inside out. Actually, I feel like the only thing that's keepin' me from going crazy is this terrible, terrible pain. (39.5)
Whether or not Andy wants to die almost doesn't matter as much as the choices he makes to get himself into this situation. He feels lost and hopeless because he no longer has a happy future or options for college. But what would happen if he made different choices since the accident? Or what if he just decided to start making better decisions right now?
Quote #9
Robbie's death was an accident. Somehow I can deal with that, but what you did—it just don't make no sense to me. You're making everything so rough for the rest of us. (44.3)
Tyrone's letter makes it clear just how rough Andy's suicide is. He explains that he can't get over the fact that Andy chose to do this—this was no accident, which makes it much worse in his mind.
Quote #10
I'm not through with you. Your mom found you, or what was left of you. Did you think about her? Could you feel her pain as she walked into your room, and saw your body draped across your bed, a gun still clutched in your hand, and shattered segments of your head spread across a room which looked as if it had been painted with blood? Do you know what blood smells like, Andy? Your mom does. She'll never forget it. Part of her died that day too. (44.11)
Rhonda makes it clear how much Andy's choices affected people around him. It's not just about how he was feeling or who was there to help him—nope, his decision to end his life hurts lots of other people, too.