How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I sometimes had to bite my lip to keep from laughing in the ecstasy of my power over them." (3.7)
This is a direct connection between power and guns for Jack: not using the gun, but just knowing that he can. It's kind of scary, like he could have been a rooftop sniper if he hadn't discovered writing.
Quote #2
"Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it." (3.8)
Oooh, here's a way to exercise power when you don't have any. Jack doesn't draw attention to it later, but it's clear that he applies this in multiple situations where he feels helpless.
Quote #3
"She needed me and to be needed made me feel capable." (6.73)
Ah, sweet co-dependence. Mom gives Jack a feeling of power because she herself is so powerless.
Quote #4
"I sat where I was, both hands on the dashboard. We were all over the road." (10.43)
This is the first of many confrontations between Jack and Dwight: basically a game of chicken, where Dwight is trying to scare Jack into doing his impersonation of Dwight. Considering that Dwight's drunk and behind the wheel of a speeding car, it's pretty scary. What's notable is that Jack doesn't give in. The lad's scared to death, but Wolff seems to be hinting that he's a match for Dwight's glorified bully routine.
Quote #5
"I was also a thief. Dwight's reason for calling me one was trivial, based on my having taken his hunting knife without permission. My thefts were real." (15.7)
This is a weird turn of the phrase, and it relocates both to power and identity. Dwight brands him a thief, which is true, but only to a point. Jack knows how much more of a thief he is than Dwight suspects, and that gives him some measure of power over Dwight (at least in Jack's mind).
Quote #6
"He pulled his hunting knife out from under the seat and held it to her throat. He kept her there for hours like that, making her beg for her life, making her promise she would never leave him." (22.56)
This is how Dwight exercises power… which suggest that he's really insecure. Which suggests that he himself may feel pretty powerless and tries to reverse that through felonious assault on his wife. Stay classy Dwight.
Quote #7
"I wanted to confound these sharpies, show them I wasn't as dumb as they thought I was." (22.96)
Jack's talking about the SATs here, which he aces. Could it be that he does so well because he's able to frame it as a competition (and thus a struggle for power).
Quote #8
"From behind my wound, I said things to Dwight that I never would have said before." (24.6)
The injury actually empowers Jack, since Dwight won't hit "a hurt kid" while anyone is looking. Ironic, isn't it?
Quote #9
"I stood in the darkness on the other side, silently hugging the rifle, sweating and shaking as in a fever." (31.2)
A last-minute reversal: Jack sues guns as a form of empowerment—to feel big and strong—but it doesn't help him when his dad's pederast friend shows up at the door. All he can do it hold it and shiver.