How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
There was no shame in the position; I wasn't so proud as to think it beneath me. But it was not what I wanted. What I wanted, with the intensity of all my dreams, was to one day fly the Aurora. To make her part the winds over the Mongolian steppes, soar over Antarctica, and weather the storms of Terra Nova. What I wanted was to take her airborne and keep her there forever. (3.30)
Ambitious little kid, eh? But who can blame him—waiting hand and foot on rich people is no picnic. And even though Matt is a dreamer by nature, he's also a pretty realistic dude. He knows that the only way he'll ever achieve his dreams is through hard work and not letting these kinds of bumps in the road deter him from his goals.
Quote #5
"If I can collect a set of bones from this creature, imagine that!" she said. "Pictures, photographs would be excellent too, of course. But the Zoological Society might poo-poo them. Fakes, like the faeries, they'd say, like the Schlock Ness monster. Imagine the furor when I show them real bones. 'How do you explain that?' I'll say to them." She already saw it playing out in her mind like a cinema reel. (9.66)
Remember the Mirror of Erised from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? It's the mirror Harry finds in a forbidden wing where he sees himself with his family, because the magic of the mirror is that it reflects all of your dreams coming true. We have a feeling that Kate would see herself in the mirror giving a lecture to a room full of astounded Zoological Society stuffed shirts, proving to them once and for all that she's the best scientist ever.
Quote #6
"I hate it when things are unfair," she muttered. "You must go to this Air Academy too, when you're older."
"It's not quite as easy as that," I said.
"Why isn't it?"
"It costs money, and I haven't much of that. None, in fact."
"Surely there are scholarships for promising students."
I nodded, saying nothing.
"You must get a scholarship," said Kate, solving all my problems for me. "And after your training you can proceed to sailmaker, and then on to officer and then captain. It would be such a terrible shame if someone of your obvious ability didn't succeed."
I didn't feel like talking about it anymore. Even if I won a scholarship, the Academy training was at least two years—two years during which I would be making no money to send back to my mother and sisters. They relied on me. Even if the Academy offered me a place, I'd not be able to take it. But somehow I couldn't tell Kate this. I felt ashamed. Around her and all her wealth, the very idea of being poor seemed ridiculous. Impossible. She meant well, but I doubted she had any notion of what the world was like outside her moneyed bubble. (11.69-76)
Have you ever heard the phrase blind ambition? This is almost a perfect example of it. Ambition is the desire to achieve a particular end—blind ambition is when you don't let things like common sense or logic get in the way of achieving said goal. Kate just sees what Matt needs to accomplish and forges ahead, but Matt knows the reality is that there are obstacles in his life he just might not be able to surmount.