How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
He tells her how Vicky alone stayed with him in the building, round the clock, during the '67 riots. (4.192)
The '67 Newark riots—which were a real event, by the way—made Newark seem like a war zone.
Quote #8
Eighteen years old and that was the Marine Corps to me, the rapid firing, air cooled .30 caliber machine gun. What a patriotic kid that innocent kid was. Wanted to fire the tank killer, the hand-held bazooka rocket. (5.52)
The Swede is thinking about his enthusiasm for joining the Marines after he has learned where to find Merry. It's safe to say that he doesn't think about weapons of war in the same way he did when he was just getting out of high school.
Quote #9
"No, you didn't make the war. You made the angriest kid in America. Ever since she was a kid, every word she spoke was a bomb." (6.271)
Is Jerry's assessment of Merry fair? Does she wage war on her family from the day she is born? Does her family wage war on her? Is she really the angriest kid in America? From what the Swede sees on the news, her anger isn't out of place.