How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"All the images of myself as I wished to be were images of myself armed." (3.12)
Key point here: Jack ties his transformation into gunplay. Carrying a gun, to be specific. It's probably part of his need for control over his life—a gun makes you feel in control, even if you aren't—but it plays a big role in his development. And he does ultimately join the army, after all.
Quote #5
"It was the kind of room that B-movie detectives wake up in, bound and gagged after they've been slipped a Mickey." (5.2)
Here's where storytelling and imagination enter into Jack's journey. He's living in a cheap little boardinghouse room, but he thinks of it as something cool and romantic: something out of a detective story. Sounds a lot better than "a crappy attic in a boardinghouse," doesn't it?
Quote #6
"I could introduce myself as a scholar-athlete… and without any reason to doubt me, people would believe I was that boy, and thus allow me to be that boy." (10.11)
This is one of Jack's big misunderstandings about life. Call it 'Fake It Til You Make It Syndrome': all he has to do is pretend hard enough and he'll change. Sadly, it just ain't that easy.