How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph.Page)
Quote #4
Later the police and firemen said that due to budget cuts, they hadn't been trained for rescues like this. If they went in after him, it would have been a big liability issue. (VIII.6.60)
Eggers has this way of laying blame and then complicating the story to the point that the truth of the situation feels blurred. Just when we're all set to blame Alan for his blindness to Charlie Fallon's distress, Eggers drops this bomb: Charlie died in front of a whole cadre of people. Economic instability keeps them from saving him at the last moment.
It's Eggers way of saying that most tragedies and disappointments happen for many reasons—but it's also a backhanded way of laying guilt at Alan's feet, since he's one of the agents of economic collapse.
Quote #5
Alan couldn't have it. He had to repair the damage. Alan didn't want to be the only parent. And he worried—or rather he knew—that if Kit could find her mother unworthy, then using the same tools of reassessment, she would find Alan unacceptable, too. (XI.42.76)
Like most parents, Alan feels guilt about his shortcomings as a parent. He feels particularly blameworthy because his daughter Kit has to deal with a mother who simply cannot adult. In his attempts to "help" Kit understand her mother, Alan has ulterior motives. He wants to share to burden of screwing up, but he also wants to keep Kit from going into "rejection mode." He can't bear to lose the only working relationship in his life.
Quote #6
The greatest tragedy about Ruby was that talking about her made him sound like a bastard. She had done him great harm, repeatedly—she'd torn him open, thrown all kinds of terrible ruinous stuff inside him, and then had sewn him back up—but Kit couldn't know that. (XV.28.103)
Alan's feelings about his failed marriage are complex and conflicted. He knows that Ruby's behavior was out of control—even scary. But he also feels responsible for her deep dissatisfaction and unhappiness. If only he'd been the type of man she needed, the whole situation wouldn't have been so harsh. Still, it would be nice if he could dish on her once in a while and not look like a jerk.