How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Just prior to the bank holdup, I'd been taking stock of my life. Cabdriver—and I'd funked my age at that. (You need to be twenty.) No real career. No respect in the community. Nothing. I'd realized there were people everywhere achieving greatness while I was taking directions from balding businessmen called Derek and being wary of Friday-night drunks who might throw up in my cab or do a runner on me. (1.2.14)
Can you believe this guy? He describes himself to us as a loser who is just waiting for life to happen. It's no wonder no one else gives him a little respect—Ed isn't really living life, he's just going about his life with lackluster enthusiasm.
Quote #2
He has sex with her and the bed cries out in pain. It creaks and wails and only I can hear it. Christ, it's deafening. Why can't the world hear? I ask myself. Within a few moments I ask it many times. Because it doesn't care, I finally answer, and I know I'm right. It's like I've been chosen. But chosen for what? I ask. The answer's quite simple: To care. (1.6.33)
In some ways Ed is the perfect guy to care about these people because he knows what it's like for no one to care about you. Think about it: He's got his dog and his cab and that's about it.
Quote #3
"Would you like a coffee, too, Jimmy?" I ask myself. "Don't mind if I do," I reply. "Don't mind at all," and I laugh again, feeling every bit like a true messenger. (1.8.60)
Ed jumps into the role of messenger faster than he really thinks it through. He doesn't care why this old lady calls him Jimmy, or that it's weird how people seem to be expecting him. Instead Ed feels important and needed for the first time in his life.