How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"We didn't have a telephone and she never went to church. She thought it was good for me, but beside the point for herself." (2.15)
Mom's trying to make Jack a Catholic. Maybe that's her way of finding a "real" family for him: someone to give him values and make him feel good, even yell at him when he messes up. All things that she should do, but for whatever reason is unable to. Nuns = replacement moms?
Quote #2
"I imagined being adopted by different people I saw on the street." (2.16)
Jack's imagining a fantasy that can never exist: the idea that someone else would be perfect as a family, and not have problems like his family does.
Quote #3
"He would hold no grudges as long as my mother walked the line" (2.19)
From the fantasy, we go to reality: Roy's dysfunctional family unit. Mom's gotta do what he says or there will be trouble… geez, no wonder Jack takes off into Imagination Land.
Quote #4
"We didn't laugh at them when they said nice things about their parents, or when they were polite to each other, or when they said things like 'hey gang…'" (5.25)
We see a crack here between who Jack is trying to be—the hip kid who's too cool for school—and who he really is—a lonely kid looking for a little sympathy and stability. The Mickey Mouse Club starts looking really nice after going through what he's been through.
Quote #5
"I was tempted by the idea of belonging to a conventional family, and living in a house, and having a big brother and a couple of sisters—especially if one of those sisters was Norma." (10.11)
We get a bit of a giggle because of his hots for Norma, but it also might reflect a fundamental flaw in his thinking. Even when he wants a normal family, it can't be a normal family because of the way he thinks about his stepsister.
Quote #6
"He smiled at me and put his hand on my shoulder and made frequent references to fun things we'd done together. And I played along." (11.13)
The big question: why does Jack play along? This is his out. He could just say, "Mom, this guy's a lunatic and marrying him would be a huge mistake," but it's not that easy. Could it be that he's buying into the "fake it til you make it" idea that he's lived his life to up until now? That if he pretends that Dwight's a super cool step-dad, somehow that will make Dwight a super-cool step dad?
Quote #7
"Our failure was ordained, because the real family we set out to imitate does not exist in nature; a real family as troubled as ours would never dream of spending time together." (12.35)
Is Jack admitting defeat here? He basically says that imitating the perfect family—the sort of pretending he tries his whole life—can never work because the truth always creeps in. Then again, this is the grown-up author talking: Toby, not Jack, who presumably knows better.
Quote #8
"I was my mother's son. I could not be anybody else's." (16.37)
Interesting: with all of Jack's transformations and changes, he can't change this. Nor does he want to… even if it means getting away from Dwight. His only permanent feature is the one that ties him to his mom.