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.