How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"That's why you're going to be the next champ, Peekay, you've got the reason." (5.18)
Do you think that being bullied is a good enough reason to become a boxing champ? Can resentment sometimes be turned into an incentive?
Quote #2
Remember, you're the next contender. Good luck, little boetie. (7.3)
Here is the moment where Hoppie basically assigns Peekay his destiny of becoming the welterweight boxing champion of the world, and his words will stay with the protagonist for the rest of the novel. Talk about dedication.
Quote #3
And so I did all the things required of a boxer and practiced on the punching bag until the whole armory of punches was as familiar to me as the piano scales. That old punching bag took a terrible hiding on a daily basis over those first two years. (11.9)
Here boxing is compared to music in a simile, where the boxer must learn the basics, just like a beginning pianist must learn the scales and arpeggios, before he can actually fight, or actually play a piece of music. Everybody's got to start somewhere.
Quote #4
When I said that I was not prepared to give up being world welterweight champion for Miss Bornstein, amid a lot of tapping and tamping and staring into space over the rusty roof, he announced that the quality of my love was certainly worth a dozen long-stemmed roses a week but fell short of a whole garden. (13.108)
This is just one example of how focused Peekay is because he's willing to sacrifice, among many other things, his love for his teacher for his ultimate goal.
Quote #5
My mind was permanently focused on a single fixed point, the welterweight championship of the world. I thought about it so often, reaffirmed my determination so frequently, that hardly an hour of my life passed when it wasn't in my thoughts. (17.55)
No wonder Peekay never has any girlfriends. He's got a one-track mind, and his dream is much more important than any passing fancy. He's going places, and he knows that he's got to plan to get there, even if it means losing out on many other interesting activities.
Quote #6
I was seldom concerned with winning a particular fight; instead I was cultivating the habit of winning. (17.56)
What do you think about this philosophy? Could it work for goals besides boxing? And when winning becomes your overall goal, do you think that it spills over into other areas of life?
Quote #7
I didn't want to start under Solly Goldman—my first and only choice—and have to stop. Just getting him to take me as an amateur would be hard enough without messing him around. (18.7)
Just as Peekay will only accept the ultimate championship as satisfactory, he will only take the very best coach. It's another example of his all-or-nothing attitude. As Patrick Henry once said, "Give me the best boxing coach, or give me death!" Oh wait…it didn't quite go like that, did it?
Quote #8
I had steeled myself to win so often that, in my mind, a single loss in the ring would have meant that I would not become the welterweight champion of the world. (21.119)
This quote shows us that Peekay sees himself as a machine, or something almost beyond human, and also that most of his wins happen in his head rather than just being physical victories.
Quote #9
Nineteen fifty-one was the year I won the South African schools featherweight title and the Prince of Wales School won the schools championship for the third year running. (23.1)
Here Peekay gives us the idea that his individual determination has the power to bring others along with it, and the school goes from last place to first just through his example.
Quote #10
Two days later she announced at the dinner table that the Lord had guided her quite clearly and that I should give up boxing as it displeased Him. When I had done so, I would be guided in the Lord's special plans for me.
When I replied that boxing was too important to me, she had burst into tears. (23.40)
This is an example of the feeling Peekay has that religion is for weak people or losers, and that he has to leave them behind in order to win. His goals are, once again, much more important than fitting in or being part of a group.