How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"She felt that as your soul died, cancer began. She would always say it was a death which was not like other deaths." (3.177)
Throughout the book, cancer is portrayed as a spiritual disease as much as a physical one. To us, it seems like Mailer is making a broader point about society, about the many deep-seated problems that we try to ignore, but eat away at us with time. What do you think?
Quote #8
"And tonight we got him. Know why? Cause he's superstitious. His nephew told him to take a walk, get lost in the crowd. No. He's not leaving the car." (3.308)
Even Eddie Ganucci, mobster extraordinaire, is super-superstitious. This is actually one of the few instances in the novel where superstitious beliefs seem to be proven wrong. That being said, we know from the end of the novel that Ganucci is free from prison just a day later, so maybe he isn't so wrong after all…
Quote #9
My brain had developed into a small manufactory of psychic particles, pellets, rockets the length of a pin, planets the size of your eye's pupil where the iris comes down. (4.8)
It almost seems like Rojack steals Deborah's psychic abilities after he kills her, and similarly, he later gains Cherry's ability to read other peoples' luck after she dies. We're not quite sure what to make of this, but we can tell you for sure that Rojack is the last person in the world we'd want to have telepathic powers. Yikes.