How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Where else but America could football flourish, America with its millions of fertile acres of corn, soy, and wheat, its lakes of dairy, its year-round gushers of fruits and vegetables, and such meats, that extraordinary pipeline of beef, poultry, seafood, and pork, feedlot gorged, vitamin enriched, and hypodermically immunized, humming factories of high-velocity protein production, all of which culminate after several generations of epic nutrition in this strain of industrial-sized humans? Only America could produce such giants. (XXL.2)
It's true, with maybe the exception of Cold War-era Russia. (Have you seen some of these guys?) Most countries would give just about anything to have the food supply we enjoy here in America.
Quote #5
Billy notes how closely his fellow guests listen to Norm's speech, how keen their facial expressions of faith and resolve. The men look wise, relaxed, in great shape for middle age, possessed of the sure and liquid style that comes of long success. They have good hair. They've wrinkled well. The women are slim and toned and internationally tan, their makeup sealed with a Teflon coat of cool. Billy tries to imagine the formula of birth, money, schools, and social savvy that lifts people to such a rarefied station in life. Whatever it is, they make it look easy just standing there, just by being who they are in this special place, being warm and safe and clean, being guests of Norm. (Everything.25)
There's something about never having to worry about where your next meal is coming from, or how you're going to pay the bills, that makes you just look well off. It is easy for them, Billy. You're not imagining things.
Quote #6
"Why should I watch myself?"
"Because in case you haven't noticed this is a highly partisan country we live in, Billy. Those guys are smart, they know who the enemy is. They aren't fooled by a couple of bulls*** war medals."
Billy glances at his chest, considering his medals in this possibly sinister light.
"I'm not the enemy."
"Oh hooooo, you don't think? They decide, not you. They're the deciders when it comes to who's a real American, dude." (Everything.106-110)
This is probably the most sinister thing Dime says in the whole book. The rich guys are the enemy, because they'll be the ones who send Billy—a poor kid—to places like Iraq to die. And for what? That's debatable. It's hard being a pawn.