How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
All children are flotsam driven by the ebb and flow of adult lives. (3.160)
This quote compares children to the stuff that floats in the ocean and adults to the ocean itself. That's not a very encouraging metaphor if you're looking for some control over your life. Just remember what Crush said in Finding Nemo: "Just go with the flow, dude."
Quote #2
As I sat on the rock high on my hill, and as the sun began to set over the bushveld, I grew up. Just like that. (8.98)
If only it were that easy! But no—several hundred pages to go, kiddos. The point is that growing up really was a one-minute-to-the-next thing for Peekay; it's when he decides to stand on his own two feet and never let anyone make him feel less again that he comes of age.
Quote #3
You may ask how a six-year-old could think like this. I can only answer that one did. (8.100)
Do you have memories of thinking profound thoughts as a small child? Do you think such a thing is possible? Or do you think that this is a moment where the narrator loses track of his childhood memories?
Quote #4
I put both my hands out, and he flipped the ball lightly into them. Suddenly I was sitting on the floor with Klipkop laughing over me. "It's a medicine ball, and it weighs fifteen pounds. When you can throw one of these over my head, you'll be strong enough to begin to box." (10.171)
At this point Peekay is really reminded of his own smallness, and given a goal that will help him focus on growing up.
Quote #5
He had pushed me away from the punching ball, and I had tripped over a rubber mat and fallen. Picking myself up, I had squared up to him, when Lieutenant Smit, seeming not to have noticed the incident, said he wanted to see us in the ring. My heart thumped as I realized that the moment had come. (11.40)
Finally, Peekay has his chance to get into the ring and fight. Let's hope all that medicine-ball-throwing has paid off…This is another moment where Peekay grows up—see, it doesn't all happen all at once.
Quote #6
I was the youngest kid in the first form but, what with one thing and another, I was clearly seen to have a bright future at the Prince of Wales School. (17.1)
What is the "one things and another" that gives Peekay a reputation as a shining star? Is it that he's smart? A good athlete? A good musician? Or is it something about his personality?
Quote #7
I felt I wasn't growing as a boxer. [. . .] If I were to become the welterweight champion of the world, I knew I'd soon have to find a coach who thought beyond schoolboy boxing. (18.7)
A big part of growing up for Peekay is realizing that it's time for him to move on to the next step in his progress. It's a conscious act, not a passive one.
Quote #8
Even though the odds had grown well beyond simple foolishness, I convinced myself that my brains (ha, ha) were the difference, that I knew how to survive a grizzly because I could read it better and was less likely to make emotional decisions under pressure. Which was, of course, a load of codswallop. (24.6)
This moment is important because it is one of the only moments where Peekay really is all alone, acting independently—and he makes the wrong choice without the help of his friends.