How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"She did not try to make any of this sound like great news. Instead, she spoke as if she saw in this plan a duty which she would be selfish not to acknowledge." (9.82)
Wow, Dwight is so bad that Jack and his mom can't even sugar-coat him with moonbeams and high hopes and whatnot. They don't even try to make up dreams about him.
Quote #5
"She even, in the end, married him." (17.31)
This is Norma's dream, and like a lot of dreams in this book, it goes sour. She tries to get away from her dad by marrying a nice clean-cut young man, and that nice clean-cut young man turns out to be just as big of a jerk. He's just jerky in different ways.
Quote #6
"He didn't like him, possibly because of his effect on my mother, who was stirred by Kennedy's hopefulness and also a little in love with him." (21.2)
Mom chases dreams a lot, so it makes sense that she would be smitten by John F. Kennedy, who talked about idealism and a better tomorrow. It's also interesting that her pursuit of this dream means that Jack gets left alone with Dwight a lot… which is far from a dream scenario for Jack.