How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"He had warned her against coming, said there was no work in Salt Lake and that his own company was about to go out on strike. But his letter was so friendly! My mother just knew she'd get a job out of him." (1.13)
There's not a lot of distinction between "dreams" and "wishful thinking" here, is there? Also, like a lot of things, Jack picks up cues from his mother.
Quote #2
"I had certain ideas of the greater world that Annette belonged to, and I wanted a place in this world." (5.21)
You tend to see a lot of this in literature: dreams for a better future tied in to a pretty (and pretty unattainable girl). Annette had her share of problems just like everyone else, but Jack doesn't care. He's entranced by what he wants her to be.
Quote #3
"The price was right, next to nothing, and she believed in its possibilities, a word used often by the man who showed it to her." (7.2)
This is their place in Seattle, and it shows how dreams impact reality. Jack's mom moves them into a dump convinced that they can turn it into a palace. (Spoiler alert: they don't.)
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.
Quote #7
"To seek status seemed the most natural thing in the world for me." (22.71)
Towards the end, we see Jack really trying to turn his dreams into concrete action. "Here's a way to make this work! All I have to do is X…" It doesn't work, but it's become second hand for him; maybe a sign of how his dreams are shaping the reality of his identity.
Quote #8
"And on the boy who lived in their letters, the splendid phantom who carried all my hopes, it seemed to me I saw, at last, my own face." (22.105)
Here it is again: Jack's dreams—the mad desire to be somebody awesome instead of a borderline criminal—eventually show him who he really is. Could that be the important thing about his dreams? Not that they come true but that they help him see the truth?
Quote #9
"I could not imagine Father Karl wanting money, a certain array of merchandise, wanting, at any price, the world's esteem." (26.86)
Wow, Jack's actually ashamed of his dreams, and worse. He fears what other people will think of them. Yeah, that'll land you in a therapy couch real quick.
Quote #10
"Chuck held onto this dream as if it were already actual. He was even prepared to go to prison for it." (27.12)
Dreams may be problematic, but they seem to be worth holding on to, at least as far as Jack is concerned. Could he be urging his friend to stand firm as a way of bolstering his own dreams? If so, it's pretty hardcore to set a guy up for prison over that…