How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Shago, I'm going to kill you," I said.
"No, man. You kill women," he said. (7.101-102)
This is an illuminating moment: No matter how hard Rojack tries—he even throws the guy down a flights of stairs—Shago just won't die. In truth, Rojack only kills people he believes are weaker than him.
Quote #8
"Well, the fight was stopped before they got outside. But Shago was afraid and his friends saw it […] and well, he lost his dignity." (7.152)
It turns out that Shago isn't quite as tough as he let on—like Rojack, his violent tendencies are born from his feelings of weakness and emasculation. The only difference is that Rojack puts his money where his mouth is.
Quote #9
"It wouldn't matter so much if you had killed her. I'm just as guilty, after all […] I was a brute to her. She visited that brutishness back on you." (8.310)
This connects the idea of violence to the idea of repressed feelings—something that comes up throughout the novel. Deborah takes out her repressed feelings toward her father on Rojack, who responds in turn with violence. If you trace the cause-and-effect back to the beginning, then, you end up with Kelly.